So I’m working on an engine in the home garage. I’ve finally got the bottom end assembled, replete with forged pushy bits and so forth. I get the new head studs run down into the block, drop the head gasket on, and slide the head on. Washers go down and nuts get hand-threaded onto the studs. And then the problem becomes apparent.
The head stud kit, despite being for a Japanese engine, has SAE threads on the nut end. (The block end is proper metric, go figure) So instead of being 12mm, the 12pt nuts are 1/2". That’s not inherently a problem, I have 1/2" deep well 12pt sockets. But the head casting doesn’t leave a lot of room around the head bolts. The factory used a 10mm socket head, and while a 12mm socket will juuuust fit, the 1/2" socket won’t. And I’ve tried a few of them from a few different manufacturers.
Now, a 1/4 drive socket will fit, it’s got thin enough walls, but a 1/4" square drive won’t hold up to the 76ft-lb torque requirement for the head bolts. (I tried. It sheared)
Any ideas? Recommendations for thin-wall 3/8 drive sockets? Thoughts on bench-grinding or turning a socket down? Welding the 1/4 drive socket to a bigger socket? Global thermonuclear warfare?
I would not bench grind it. Uneven walls and will get it hot.
Look at what diameter you need, then measure OD of socket. Measure when the thinnest wall is (near a point).
Whatever the difference is between the OD now and subtract what you can get away with as maximum OD. Divide that in half, whatever the difference is between your measured minimum wall at the point was is how much remaining wall you’ll have.
Nothing wrong with a hot socket chucked into a drill to grind it down a bit. And we really are talking about just a bit. The sub-millimeter difference between the OD of a 1/4 drive socket and a 3/8 drive socket of the same size is all I need to clear the head. It’s frustrating how close this head is to allowing that fit. A 3/8 drive 12mm socket will fit just fine, a 1/4 drive 1/2" socket fits too, but a 3/8 drive 1/2" socket is juuuust too big.
Of course, any socket modified in this way finds its way out of the impact rotation permanently, but I’ve got enough of these that I’m willing to remove one from that list.
Still, I’d totally be down to use it as lathe practice, if somebody were down for walking me through the process.
Better quality sockets typically have thinner walls inherently offering better access.across the board. There are also extra deep sockets make by a various well know and not so well known tool companies (facom, Gedore, Stahwille, and more) for those hard to reach nuts in your case.
I’d suggest a good 3/8 drive long deep socket in the event "grinding one down to fit doesn’t work.
I wouldn’t hesitate to put 75 or 100 pound feet of torque on my 1/4" drive tools-but my tools didn’t come from Horror freight
For the record, the socket I have that fits is a 1/4 drive Craftsman deep well socket, and I have no question that it will withstand 75ft-lb. But given that it is a 1/4 drive, putting it on a torque wrench to precisely impart that torque, requires the use of an adapter, and I’ve already sheared one adapter in my attempts. Unfortunately none of my 3/8 drive 1/2" sockets, Craftsman or otherwise, will fit.
I’ve picked up what I hope is a stouter adapter. If it holds up, great. If it snaps off, I’m chucking one of the 3/8 drive sockets I have into a drill and taking the whole shebang to a grinder wheel.
Liability, the inability for cheap 1/4" square drives to not shear long prior to that, and a general disdain for the stubborn bravery of your average automotive tech.
I found a 1/4" ratchet rated up to 90 foot pounds. I didn’t think they went that high. Most look like they shear off around 50 foot pounds. I learned something.
Kris,
can you post a pic of the head / nut you are trying to access? and the depth or the reach? I’ll have a look in my misc boxes, but I am / was a metric (European car) guy for decades other than my 20 years of Aircraft work mostly USA made but also French and German - but the military and Airbus provided all the tools for those gigs.
Just double checking that we all know that 1/2" ~ 13mm…
I’ve bumped into a surprising # of Japanese tinfans who don’t know that, but most Eurotrashers do, so…
it is close but not the same - in a higher torque app with 12 point nuts in a rather critical(head gasket) task - it would be better judgement to use the correct socket made by a manufacturer that makes a good fitting (tolerance fit) tool to get a relatively accurate torque reading (this of course is somewhat dependent on when (if ever) the torque measuring device has been calibrated or is in calibration.
I’ve used a 17mm for use on a 11/16"
19mm for 3/4"
11mm for 7/16
21mm for 13/16"
etc, but not for a head gasket, timing belt tensioner, rod or main bearings, etc
May I ask who made the stud kit?
Usually (not every aftermarket product) better stud kits are made with the clearances in mind based on the application.
It’s an ARP stud kit for a Nissan CA18DET. The socket clearance issue is well-known within the community, but most of the CA18DET community is based in Australia and Europe, so there’s not a lot of good recommendations for tools if you’re stateside.
Also the kit isn’t particularly well-designed for the application. SAE fasteners on a metric engine, and all 10 studs are the same length, so one stucks up too high from the shorter boss near the water pump. Go figure. At the very least an 11th washer would be nice.
