Steve69 said:ANYONE ON THE INPUT SPLINE
THANKS
D.Hearne said:I put a thin film on both the input shaft spines and the bearing retainer sleeve the T/O bearing slides on. And I've never had problems with it contaminating the clutch. In service, I've had some oil get into the bell from leaking valve covers and it's never bothered the clutch either. The whole assembly spins so fast that it never reaches the clutch lining, centrifugal force flings it onto the interior of the bellhousing. As for the bolts, you're just as likely to get bad bolts from Ford or ARP as anywhere else. I've used grade 8 & 9's for the pressure plate for years without failures. These were purchased thru a local bolt supply store though and not thru the local hardware chains.
hrspwrjunkie said:Actually, that's not true. Standard SAE graded bolts are counterfieted over seas and sold here in the states having not been made to SAE specs.
65ShelbyClone said:I can actually vouch for that. I got a cheap set of PAW-brand head bolts that had the 6 hash marks on top, indicating grade 8. I went to install them, and they just wouldn't torque up to 65 lb-ft. I hadnt installed heads before, but this didnt seem right. I kept going, thinking it was maybe the gasket compressing......until a bolt twisted completely off. Another one elongated at the threads maybe 1/8-3/16". I removed them all and ended up getting ARPs. $30 for the cheapies, 45 for the ARPs. In an effort to save $15, I ended up spending $45 MORE. That was the last lesson for me about trying to save money with cheap parts. I still have the bad bolts is anyone wants a pic.
Grade 8 bolts are typically 150,000 psi. The lowest ARPs are usually at least 180,000psi, which puts them in the grade 10 category or higher. An F1 team using production bolts? With multi-million dollar budgets and 900+hp engines spinning 20,000rpm? I find that unlikely.
D.Hearne said:I've had Ford O.E. bolts break too. They're marginally of better quality than anything else. With the world economy the way it is today, you're as likely to end up with bad bolts from any source. The pencil pusher buying them, doesn't care where they came from, in many cases they're shopping for price, not quality. I've also heard stories of bad ARP's too. Unless someone actually stress tests every bolt in a lot, there's no guarantee every one will perform as intended. The only time I've ever had oil contaminate a clutch was when there was a massive oil leak from the rear main, or once on a 390 I had put together, the rear cam plug popped out of the block. In that instance, there was something wrong with the block itself, it did the same thing later on after I reassembled it to use in a fork lift. ( yea FE's were used in those too )
Steve69 said:They Did have lock washers. When I torqued my new pressure plate with
the Mr Gasket bolts the washer were slightley loose. I also noticed on the
old pressure plate alot of scratching where the the bolts bolted to flywheel
like the pressure plate had moved or shifted on the flywheel.
strange65 said:I question the use of costly ARP bolts also. If they are strengthen and hardened using them on 40 year old threads is inviting trouble. The diffrence in strength, plus the fact that you would not be able to go with the "new" torque makes it pointless anyway. The head bolts would be the only thing I would change .
Rusty67 said:For 10 bux when it comes to a set of ARP clutch bolts whats the fuss about ? Buy yerself new ones and be sure. If you are concerned about the metal being weakened after 40 years... then helicoil the threads.....
And now a little bit of wisdom from the school of hard knocks. If you have a late modle flywheel, the threads are METRIC and ARP DOES NOT make a bolt kit for this. Don't ask but this is why I know heli-coils in a flywheel work..... my late model flywheel now sports american threads.