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My uncle swore by starting every bolt by hand. I laughed. Now I get it.
Helped him restore a 68 Mustang last summer. He watched me spin a header bolt in with a ratchet. Told me to stop and use my fingers first. I rolled my eyes but did it anyway. Three months later I was replacing my own exhaust manifold on my F-150 and crossthreaded one bad. 30 minutes of hell with a tap. His way would have saved me $45 in parts. Has anyone else had to learn that lesson the hard way?
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leelewis17d ago
Did you strip the threads on the header or the block?
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joseph_adams6617d ago
Happened to me on a bellhousing bolt a few years back. Took me a whole afternoon with a helicoil kit and a lot of foul language. Now I treat every bolt like it's made of glass until it's snug by hand. Pro tip if you do have to use a ratchet on a blind hole get a magnetic bolt holder or wrap a rubber band around the socket to keep it straight. Saved me from repeating that headache more times than I can count.
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