All the others are easy to reach, but I can't get a torque wrench on those two back ones. Shall I just get them as tight as I can with the #2335 and call it close enough?
I remember reading in the late Ted Aschman's column in the VF that you can get a deep 5/8" impact socket and cut it in half, so you have the socket in one piece and the drive in the other. Braze them together, side by side, so that looking at the assembly from the top it resembles a figure-8. Then you can use the torque wrench on the two back bolts. Ted wrote that it only affects the reading about 5%.
If you can get a universal joint socket or an extention with a universal joint on it, you can sometimes torque with the torque wrench. Otherwise, use the torque wrench on one of the other bolts and follow with a box wrench or other wrench which will fit the back two and use on the bolt which you just torqued. Pull until the bolt just starts to move. Then using that wrench on the back two estimate how hard you pulled on the bolt of known torque. It is not quite as accurate as using the torque wrench, but will work if you can't figure a way to use the torque wrench.
Norm
Steve; I use this home made socked.
Toon.
Hope you can read this:
Another thing: I don't know about the 1915, but on my '14 I can remove the dash shield and access the rear two from the passenger compartment.
Mr. Boer has posted a photo of what Ted was writing about.
RV
That works on my 14 also but not so much on my 26 Coupe. I have used a welded socket as posted above or a crows foot wrench, with the torque wench in that case.
I use a crows foot.
Mike, You can get a crow,s foot for as a line wrench. It wraps around the bolt. scott
I just re-position the wrench as it tightens up. Never a problem.
If a crow foot will do it, that's what I'll use. If not, I'll try the shield removal. A swivel was my first thought, but there was no way for that to work.
Steve - When you consider that millions of Model "T's were assembled in the factory without a torque wrench, I can't see a problem with doing those two back ones the same way that the factory did ALL of them. Anyway, that's what I'd do,....FWIW,....harold
I find it easy to get to the back head bolts using a universal joint on the socket, then an extension to the torque wrench. Using a universal doesn't change the torque applied.
You could always pull the engine.
Torque the ones you can get at, then use a box end wrench and practice on the 13 bolts you already tightened to see how much pull you need to put on the box wrench to get them to barely move. Apply the same pull on the back two bolts. You will be fine IMO.
Remember to reduce the torque setting by 5% to 10% when using the crows foot!
Torque the ones you can get at, then use a box end wrench and practice on the 13 bolts you already tightened to see how much pull you need to put on the box wrench to get them to barely move. Apply the same pull on the back two bolts. You will be fine IMO.
^ That's exactly the way I did it.......
There is a formula for using a crows foot on a torque wrench, but if you keep the crows foot 90 degrees (perpendicular) to the handle, the correction is not needed.
Try getting a flare nut crow (or box is better). Regular crows have a tendency to spread at that torque, especially if a cheapo one.
I just tighten them the way they used to do...by feel. Steve Jelf's approach is correct. There is so little compression/combustion pressure that it doesn't take much. I started at age 13 and that worked fine. We worry too much about modern methods. The Model T doesn't care. My high performance Chevy is another story.
weld two sockets together, works great
Steve,
To have the same torque on all the bolts you should use the Ford tool on all of them. I've found that the most important thing about head gaskets is making dang sure everything is free of oil. The next most important thing is using a good sealant, either KW copper coat or Krylon flat aluminum lacquer.
I just use a Ford Model T head/spark plug wrench on all of them.
I bought a crows foot off eBay. You can borrow it for the cost of round trip postage, but you can probably find one on there for about that cost. Let me know if you want to use it.
If you were a Ford mechanic back in the day you would be using your skills on a daily basis. As such you would be able to tighten bolts by feel. I find that I torque head bolts on a T once or twice a year at best. I would rather use a torque wrench than "feel" the torque due to the fact that I don't do it enough to keep it as a daily skill. I agree that the head and block needs to be free of oil and that copper coat or aluminum paint will help seal the head. My T mentor would always used aluminum paint on head gaskets. YMMV.