I've heard of that happening before. I always thought if you did the pen magnets it would be a good idea to make sure they are solidly glued on there to prevent this from happening.

 

It's ironic that the guys who use the russian roulette method don't seem to have this problem. I can't remember of one person who uses this risky method have had a lifter fall. A wooden dowel or metal threaded rod is probably better than the russian roulette method, but even the expensive JPR tool is worth the cost if one of your magnets sticks to a lifter. Hopefully some people will learn from you folly.

 

yes, i hope someone listens to this and ditches thier magnets for a dowel or welding rod or anything but this method. I knew better and was hesitant, but now feel extremely stupid

 

well, today i finally got my head gasket and bolts, so i pulled the head, and sure enough, magnet was centeredon top of number 7 intake lifter, so i removed it, cleaned, new gasket, head back on, torqueing bolts, then i get to the little bolts, torque wrench takes a big crap, so then it snaps one of the little ones clean off. I am HOT, I jsut left it, i'm still putting it together, if i'm screwed, i'm screwed, but can't extract it with th ehead on anyway, so oh well, let's see if it makes it down a bolt!

 

This happened to me. My buddy and I tried all sorts of things. The final saver was we took a 1/4 x 1/4 square stock and ground one end to a point. We slid the pointed end in, were able to slide the magnet around on the top of the lifter. It stood on end and stuck to the sruare stock. We were simply amazed we got it out. Took a good few hours of trying things.

 

Are you talking about the small bolts that hold the heads on or the ones that hold the intake on? Either way neither of them has a high torque value. If your torque wrench fails and you choose to continue without one you have to know when enough is enough. This only comes thru the experience of turning many wrenches. When you are using a torque wrench you need to take note of how much torque different fasteners require and how it "feels" when you apply the necessary turning force. Proper torque is NOT something you inherently know. Some people think more is better when it coms to torque. That isn't true especially for smaller fasteners like the one you broke off. You would have been better off stopping the job long enough to go and buy a new torque wrench rather than continue and break a bolt off. I hope your going to pull that head back off and remove the broken fastener. Maybe you've learned something from this experience.

 

Okay, yes, i know how little 22ft. lbs. is, and no, i didn't put a regular wrench on it, i was usin the torqu wrench, but it's a 3/8th drive torque wrench that's 18in. long and an 8mm head bolt, so i didn't realize how much pressure i was putting on it with the torque wrench, once it snapped, i realized 22 ft. lbs was never gonna happen. And no, i am not tearing it down, screw it, it's the small head bolt. and if it leaks, then it's just gonna leak and when i realize it i'll tear it down again, but until it does, i'm rolling with it. well.. so ar so good, she's running with new cam (trex) and open headers.

 

throw in some caddy lifters while you've got the heads off, get rid of the valvetrain noise with the big cam


i'd see it as a sign. maybe thats why i rarely have any money. oh well.