Possible error in mounting of heads to cam carriers :(
 

Tonight I was messing about getting things clean for the next session on my engine and I noticed an error I made when comparing pics from Wayne's book and my engine. I used nylocks to attach the cam carriers to the heads instead of regular (?) nuts. I searched and found my bag of old used HW and compared, but I cannot tell if they were lock nuts. They certainly do not look like the lock nuts from the Pelican HW kit. I do not trust the old stuff anyway as the HW on this engine was not all stock (ie: bolts where there were supposed to be studs/nuts; all those were fixed ;))

So... if they are all ok great. If not, what should be there and can I simply replace them one by one in the torquing pattern and not worry about it... or should I simply throw in the towel and come back next year after my hair grows back since I will have pulled it all out?

BTW, did I mention I just put the chain covers on tonight... with sealant... *sigh* :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Best regards,

Michael

The nuts that should have been used are just plain hex nuts with a wave washer. When the nut is tightened the washer compresses like a spring preventing the nut from backing out. I think that there is a good chance that the nylocks would work well but the nylon may harden over time and little peices may fall into the engine. Kind of like old valve seals. If I were you I would replace one at a time following the torque sequence and be done with it.

the cams would be in the way to remove the inner ones. kind of a non-problem, if you did use the proper wavy lockwashers under them. more for aesthetics than anything else.

I did use wavy washers under the nylocks. I think I'll just leave 'em be. I'll be rebuilding again before the plastic dies I am sure. At that point I'll replace them all.

Thanks gents :)

-Michael

allen nuts
 

Did you use the allen head nuts in the proper places?

Yiup. Got all the allen head nuts in the correct places. Just used nylocks instead of regular nuts.

BTW, I found all my old hardware... in a bag marked 'cam carrier HW' It was in a box marked 'intake parts' Oh well...

Best regards,

Michael

Simple rule of thumb, nylocs go outside of the oily parts, normal nuts with the wave washers go inside. I've seen it wrong many times but the worst failures I've seen have been extra oil leaks.