E88 Head Advice Needed

[Scotty_Rah]

I have started tearing down my E88 head in order to have is reconditioned and rebuilt. I have taken pretty much all part off it, but have hit a snag on trying to remove the bolts that house the rocker arm stud. some of them have come out reasonably easy but there are some that are proving more difficult due to the socket not being able to fit properly over the entire hex of the bolt, due to not being enough clearance between the bolt and the space between the head - hard to explain but see photos below of what i mean..

[1600dave]

If you aren't already, use a six-sided socket, not a 12-sided one. Impact sockets will do the job.

 

If the socket has a "chamfer" at the end that you place over the bolt (ie the end isn't perfectly flat), then grind it flat (bench grinder / belt sander is best, angle grinder applied carefully will do the job).

 

Like in the pic.

 

Just had a similar problem with the fill plug on an S15 gearbox which has a quite "thin" head and was stuck good and proper. Above steps got it out.

 

Edited August 8, 2016 by 1600dave

[Scotty_Rah]

I will try the impact socket. I'm not sure if it'll fit between the bolt and the castings edge (as shown below) i think i might still face the same problem perhaps.. its as if when the casting was made, when these bolts were put in it was done with a special tool or by machine. i'm sure others have had the same issue at some stage?

 

 

Thanks for the tip Dave

[Cozza]

Yep, that would be a tight fit and would require a very thin walked socket.

I think what Dave is suggesting is that by milling the bottom of the socket, you end up with nice square edges on the flats of the socket. So, when you put the socket on the rocker arm stud, it might not go down the full depth of the flats but having the square end to the socket, gives you better contact on only half the depth of the flats.

 

Hope that makes sense and good luck.

Mick

[600Z]

Hello RaZed,

 

Might sound funny but if your able to get a short bit of pipe or even a old socket that will fit over the round boss above the hex where you put the spanner on so it sits on the shoulder where the hex starts. Then give it a couple of good hard hits with a hammer you will more then likely find it will loosen it up where you should be able to remove it with a open ended or ring spanner if your able to get it on.

 

Justin.

[1600dave]

I think what Dave is suggesting is that by milling the bottom of the socket, you end up with nice square edges on the flats of the socket. So, when you put the socket on the rocker arm stud, it might not go down the full depth of the flats but having the square end to the socket, gives you better contact on only half the depth of the flats.

 

Yep, that's the idea, get the as much of the socket to grab as much of the hex as possible.

 

Even if you can only get a few mm of the stud, you should be able to loosen it.

 

A lot of sockets have an inwards-sloping chamfer like in the pic below, grinding this off so the end is dead flat can help get a little more purchase.

 

Also, if you use a breaker bar with a 2 foot or so length of pipe slipped over it to extend the bar, you can apply a lot of force while being able to control it and stop it slipping off the stud.

 

Or grind the side of the socket so it will slip down into the little gap, but only just enough to clear the area it needs to.

 

Last option would be a really good quality open-ended spanner.

 

Edited August 9, 2016 by 1600dave

[Scotty_Rah]

Thanks Chaps!

 

I will give the hex socket a go, if i need to grind it down (by the sounds i will) then so be it - I will also try placing some piping over it and try loosening it for extra help.

 

I will try this over the weekend and give some feedback for future reference.

 

- Scotty Rah 

[Scotty_Rah]

So i took the trip to my hardware store today and picked up an impact socket. I found one that was a comfortable fit and needed no modification. 

 

And.... It worked a treat! I used a breaker bar for extra leverage. They were still pretty hard to crack as they had some kind of thread lock.

 

Mission Accomplished! 

[1600dave]

Glad you got it, my next suggestion was going to be to reach for the oxy torch.........