Final Stretch on 1973.5 Rebuild - Scary Torque Spec Confirm

[Chickenstrips]

As seen below, I am on the home stretch of my rebuild. At 123k miles, it was a German smoke bomb with a dozen oil leaks. Exotech did the valve job and Mark said they were the worst exhaust valve guides he had ever seen and he has seen a few - awesome work by Exotech BTW. Once I am done I will post what I learned, did , and why for the benefit of any other 1973.5'ers pondering their options with our 6 month run of 84mm CIS pistons that are NLA.

Having had pretty good luck so far on this I am down to one last torque that scares me to death, so wanted to confirm with you all first. The oil line adapter that connects the case to the oil line to the tank in the pic below has a specified torque of 88 ft lbs in Wayne's book. Can someone confirm that this is definitely correct? Do people do something less and had success? I am asking because that torque in the case freaks me out and I also don't want to go to light and have to remove an exchanger just because I was a giant chicken. thanks!

[aturboman]

That is far too high in my opinion. The cam sprocket retaining nuts are only 75 lb ft !

The rule of thumb is anything with a soft sealing washer can never be torqued higher than the crush of the washer yield torque or it will squish out and not seal.

In the case of that size aluminum crush ring I wouldn't go past 25 lbs-30 lbs, the sump drain plug torque is 30 lbs according to the factory workshop manual and the size is very similar.

Personally I put a small dab of green Loctite on mine and torque them to feel; never had one come loose in 30+ years.

[edmayo]

Unfortunately for your question those of us who do this every day don't necessarily use a torque wrench on every fastener, it comes down to developing a feel what is tight, or too tight. This is one those cases, I've never used a torque wrench on this fitting, but if I had to guess probably in the 65 lb.ft. area. The answer above is as good an explanation as any, only difference being that we don't use loc-tite, but rather a similar product, but it is a hydraulic sealant as opposed to a locking sealant.

[Chickenstrips]

Many thanks, I am definitely going lighter than spec and like the idea of sealant or loctite to boot.

[raspy2point2]

Also be careful when you hook up your engine oil cooler--mine got bent when a previous owner wrenched the attaching hose too tight and bent the fitting on the cooler--had to get another cooler.