After breaking a valve cover bolt on my Miata trying to set it to 60 inch pounds with a $40 torque wrench, I have learned my lesson the hard way - don't cheap out on a torque wrench.

So I am about to shell out for a Snap-On and need to determine the range that will work. As far as I can tell from the Helms, 7.8 ft lbs seems to be the minimum torque setting that is needed. Does anybody know the maximum?

 

I would get a couple torque wrenches.

Maybe a 40 lb/ft and a 100 lb/ft.

 

I am thinking about doing that, but the following looks tempting:

http://buy.snapon.com/catalog/search...tno=TECH2FR100

 

That's a pretty nice torque wrench.

 

It doesn't take much to overtorque those ****'s. Be careful not to exceed the recommended torque setting.

 

theres really no need for a torque wrench for anything under 15lbft.

 

good choice, i should've bought that one. i have 2 snap on wrenches (tq series) to cover the same torque range.

 

I have no idea what 5lbft or 15 lbft 'feels' like. I tried 'feel' tightening the valve cover bolts on my Miata (which are specified at 5 lbft or so), but what seemed like a reasonable approximation of 5 lbft did not sufficiently compress the rubber gasket - so I had to use my cheap 5-70 lbft torque wrench at its lowest setting. This was a mistake.


[Modified by norice, 2:59 PM 3/17/2003]

 

"sufficiently compress"???
5lbft is more or less hand tight

 

The Miata valve cover has a thick rubber gasket that will leak like crazy if it is not snug all the way around. Hand tightening left visible gaps between the cover and the head because the gasket was not snug. I used the torque wrench because I was afraid of beaking the bolt (which is very common on Miatas - the bolts do not look as sturdy as Honda ones).

 

hand tighten with a small 1/4" drive ratchet. hard to get too much torque on those
and if you still manage to break stuff....... you are trying too hard

 

Maybe the Mazda bolts are made of a soft (i.e. crap) material