(reposted from HondaSwap.com)

So I was doing my valve lash today and as I tightened the valve cover back down, one of the bolt holes actually broke into a few pieces. To answer the question, no I wasn't gorilla tightening it down. I didn't put any more torque on it than I did on the other four.

To my question, short of pulling the head, replacing the rocker arm assembly and having the new rocker assembly line honed, what are my options? My dad seems to think that JB Weld will work, I'm not so sure. I'm pretty sure a machine shop can fix this, but can one of you guys who works in tell me anything?






edit:
Oh yeah, I've already removed the broken pieces and loose pieces of metal.

 

I have an extra top section I could sell you, that you could swap with, my peice has a broken distributor mounting ear on it.

PM me!

 

Brilliant! I hadn't even thought of that.

Sending PM now.

 

I had the same thing happen a few years back. I never bothered to fix it and it never leaked

But you could always have a shop weld it -> drill it -> tap it. I don't see how you can swap that cap without needing an align bore.

 

So what'd you do with the bolt? Just stick it in there and let it flop around? Hondabond it a little?

 

I just left the bolt in there. No hondabond. The grommet kept a good seal. You might not be so lucky though. I'd be more worried about a leak around the valve cover seal than through the bolt hole.

 

That's actually what I'm thinking.

Ah, I'll just hit up the machine shop and see what they can do.

 

a manual and a torque wrench are your friends...

 

Yeah, I built the motor. Thanks for the sarcasm.

Like I said, I didn't torque it any tighter than the other four. It broke right as it torqued all the way down.