1935 Buick S40 torque specs

[35buickakaBelle]

hi, everyone. I was able to find a water jacket cover NOS part. my car up and running again (yes!!!). My question is what are the torque specs for the bolts on the water jacket cover? also on the thermostat housing? thanks or if anyone have a link to all the torque specs for the engine would be greatly appreciate. i found one but not to much torque specs on it .

[Curti]

There were no torque specs.  Torquing in the lions share of the automotive industry was not used until around WWII.

[35buickakaBelle]

Do you have a idea what it should be? the posh rod cover is 5Lb of torque i think that should be enough?

[Mark Simmons]

Curti is right about the time frame of torquing specs for most car companies. My '34/'35 Buick manual uses the terms of size and length of the wrench and the amount of muscle power to be used in tightening (torquing) some bolts. The rest are given to "common sense" versus the size of the fastener and what it is holding down/up or on. Of course "common sense" is a very rare commodity these days.   

[Guest]

https://www.teambuick.com/reference/engine_torque.php

[Spinneyhill]

Interesting that ft.lbs are quoted. The correct units are lb.ft. Today we use N.m.    Force by distance from the fastener centre. I often have to correct myself when thinking or talking those units.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Spinneyhill said:

Interesting that ft.lbs are quoted. The correct units are lb.ft. Today we use N.m.    Force by distance from the fastener centre. I often have to correct myself when thinking or talking those units.

Graham, maybe you are looking at the words upside down attached is a picture of my torque wrench.  Or maybe my wrench is upside down.

Hope all is well down under as you head for winter and we head for summer.

[Spinneyhill]

2 hours ago, Tinindian said:

maybe you are looking at the words upside down attached is a picture of my torque wrench.

 

Humph! There goes the hegemony of the Northern Hemisphere again. We think it is you who is upside down!

 

The engineering unit of torque is Force x Distance. I can't help it if the members of people in the upside down part of the world who make torque wrenches and write Buick manuals spread mis-information. 

 

And I was wrong above. The correct unit is lbf.ft (pound-force x feet).

 

Winter? MIA so far. Well above average temperatures and rainfall in some areas with two huge dumps of rain within a week on the NE of the North Island north of Gisborne.

[Bloo]

Wrong or not, it has been "foot pounds" for automotive tools and manuals up here in the US for as long as anyone can remember.

 

Maybe we were all reading it upside down..

[Guest]

Ditto for your northern neighbor.

[Grimy]

Back to the OP's as yet unanswered questions--at least one of them, pertaining to the water jacket cover/plate:

 

I've done these on my 1934 Buick 50 of happy memory, and on at least a dozen Pierce-Arrow 6s (Series 80) and 8s with similar sheet metal covers.  The following includes lessons learned the Hard Way.

 

The female threads in the block are fragile because they probably have been somewhat eroded.  Accordingly, it is better to set them a tad loose initially, then snug after some heating and cooling cycles.  Repeat and rinse.  Use #2 Permatex on the capscrew threads.  If you're not going to undergo serious judging, use a small diameter flat washer to spread the load on the cover/plate a bit more.  I don't recall whether Buick used lock washers (too long ago) but Pierce did NOT; in such a case, use a tooth washer as well as a flat washer.    Initially, use a nut driver or no greater than a 1/4-inch drive ratchet applying pressure to only the ratchet head to tighten the capscrews, and make about six or more passes to complete the initial tightening.  Afterthought: hope you've run a chasing (not a cutting) tap through the holes.