poor man's torque wrench?

[cafefill]

Very useful to torque the 6mm head bolts, especially with the points backing plate on. I welded a piece of steel to the socket, cut a notch at 12 inches from the center of the socket, and pull it with a fish scale at a right angle to the bar. It might not be perfectly accurate, but it seems to be repeatable, which is what really matters, I think. Here's a pic:

Cafefill

[drooling-bloodhound]

Who cares if it is accurate it is better to look cool than be correct. I love it. What is the torque supposed to be for those bolts?. I have been looking in the manuals and was not sure what they are called.

[grizld1]

Yep, that'll do it. I used to use a similar setup, just a piece of 1/4" square stock with a right angle bend and a groove cut 12" from the drive center. If you want a little more accuracy, Rapala makes a really nice spring scale. Now I use a homemade 1/4" offset with my torque wrench and adjust the reading for the added length.

[cafefill]

I believe that was about two walleye and a perch. Actually, I think it was 14 foot pounds. Whichever works.
Cafefill

[drooling-bloodhound]

Hard to catch walleye in this area so I wil go this the 14 which is close I was guessing 16.

[geoff1408]

thats much better than the calibrated wrists a few people think they have. well done a true bushman.

[twinfan]

Let me get this straight... You at some point laid out some cash for a welder, but are to sheap to buy a proper torque wrench?

[5twins]

The problem is, once the points and advance housings are in place, they block straight on access to these bolts. Personally, I use a wobble adapter on my torque wrench. Thankfully, these bolts hold their torque pretty good and don't need checking very often (after the initial few times).

[steelburner]

I'd be very careful torquing those bolts NOT to exceed the recommended torque. Here's a guide: www.dansmc.com/torque_chart.htm. As you can see, it varies by grade, which is a number embossed on the head of the bolt. I found this guide after busting off a 6mm bolt at 8 ft/lbs using a good click-type torque wrench. Five held, but one broke off. Bummer. Naturally, it's in a very inconvenient place (see Murphy's Law, sometimes called "The Universal Perversity of Inanimate Objects.")

If there's no grade on your bolt, I wouldn't exceed the lowest grade's torque setting. Mine weren't stamped with a grade and should have been torqued to about 5 ft/lb, max.

US bolts have a code embossed on the bolt head, with radial marks on the head indicating the grade. No radial marks is Grade 2; three radial lines is Grade 5 and six radial lines is Grade 8.

[drooling-bloodhound]

thanks, that is good info and I have already had a broken bolt on my cam chain tensioner and proceeded to break the ez-out in the bolt. Machine shop said it was a b^%$#@ to get out.

[rwcfrank]

I use the same trick but I use a piece of tubing and slip it over my ratchet handle.