Mrmerlin

Bill when you refit the cam cover i would suggest that you put the aluminum washers on all of the screws the aluminum washers increase the gripping force of the screw, we have done this and have had very few combacks for leaking cam gaskets , plus it increases the spark plug seal

Bill51sdr

I've seen that set Bill used at Sears many times. Time to pick one up!

Big Dave

Nice work!

Randy V

Good on ya.

Sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windshield!

Rob Edwards

Sterling-

The spiral flute extrator set is REX25A. Still available new as REX25B:

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....store&tool=all

I've also used one of these on a brake caliper bolt after unsucessfully trying one of the Craftsman extractors Bill used. There wasn't enough room to use an external extractor on the caliper bolt.

Jim Morton

Nice work Bill...

I'll have to pick up a set of those. I wonder if there is a size to grap the head of the tri-square cam cap bolts ???

Bill Ball

Funny, there were aluminum washers on all the bolts (except the stripped ones) already. I've only done 2 of these before and I just installed them factory. No leaks.

Bill Ball

Nope. As with the front caliper bolts Rob just mentioned, there is not enough clearance around those cam cap bolts (due to the shape of the cam cap) for the extractor to fit, but, fortunately, they worked like a charm on the cover bolts.

Mrmerlin

I believe the WSM calls for 12 of the screws to have the sealing washers( IE the ones below the sparkplug centerline from front to back) I have been installing them on all 26 bolts. The sealing washers are aluminum and go between the bolt head and the metal force washer

Bill Ball

You're kidding me! I found none on the previous 2 cars, but there were a bunch on this one. I guess I'll need to go back in and fix that.

Bill Ball

Stan: Thanks for alerting me. I can't find specifics in the WSM. There is a comment that "some" of the bolts have sealing rings in a section written in 84, but nothing in the MY service bulletins despite redesigns of the bolts (85 and 87).

Mrmerlin

I believe the original idea is to add additional pressure to the rubber sealing plugs so to prevent the oil from migrating up the bolts shafts, this will also add addition clamping force to the cover and make the cam cover gasket and the spark plug seals slightly tighter. Keep em flying

Bill Ball

Sounds reasonable, but I'm stumped as to which bolts. The WSM just says to observe which ones have the sealing rings when you take them apart. I'm going to look over my factory original covers right now.

Mrmerlin

the sealing washers should be from the center of the cover and down, but I install washers on all of the bolts

Bill Ball

I cannot see any washers at all on my 89. The cam covers are virgin. I just loosened this middle lower bolt - no aluminum sealing washer (see pic). The 88 I am working on had 5 on each side. The WSM would indicate 6. On the 88 it was easy to spot the edge of the ring even installed. My 89 has none.