Anyone got any tips on how to take the engine to bits - the cross head screws on mine seem a bit soft and i'm worried i'm gonna round them off. Any tips?
on some of the casing bolts u can just about get some mole grips on the heads and turn it slightly to crack em off, or u can tap (dont be shy hit it!!) the screw driver with a hammer and turn at the same time, if all that fails buy a impact driver like "the only way" said : )
Aye, I get what your saying, but instead of a 6mm thread picture it all in your head and blow it right up to say a 6" thread, so you understand the bigger picture, you've undone the screw say a turn an a half, but cant get any more purchase on the cross head due to it being buggered, so like you say you bang a flathead screwdriver a few times so as to turn it into a flathead, but remember the screw is mild steel and the thread in the casing is ally, imagine the threads being pushed in by the screw and buggering up the thread on the casing, whereas tapping it round only puts pressure on one side of the thread, Ah yes I hear ya say thats what an inmpact driver does, and you'd be right, but remember the head of the screw is sat right up against the casing, which is when you usually need to use it, just to crack it open, not stuck out a mill or two, which would be around 1 pitch. Bit long winded I know, but can save you a few bob in the long run by having to have it helicoiled.
Plus stud extracting kits are a well worthwile investment for buggered screws.
-- Edited by NEV on Thursday 26th of January 2012 07:29:39 PM
i dont mean hammer the screw dead on straight and definatley not hammer the head off!!
use a flat head screwdriver and put it at an angle so it sits in one of the grooves then tap it with a hammer, its kinda like doing the job of an impact driver.
your just screwing it by tapping the hammer, youll get the hang of it
dont for get people thers loads of different phillips bits all different angles and sizes, if you dont get the right one to match the screw head it wont fit proply flat6 headed/pointed fat /thin all sorts and chew it up plus the screws used arnt hardened so are pretty soft
if you look in the manuals it will tell you all about the angles of the bits in the tools section
i got a proper one to match the screws on a few engines iv had and one tap with the driver and straight out
alot of people think there 1 phillips and one flat lol
its all in the manual before any works started well it normally is
but alot of people just whip the engines out of stuff with out lookin, no matter how good u think u are or how many motors you have built every engines different, so reading that specific book is a wealth of nolidge, and shunt be over looked