BJ8 radiator bottom hose

[Bob_Spidell]

I've gotten in the habit of smearing a little silicone grease on the inside of hoses--makes removal quite a bit easier.

 

[65_BRG_Sprite]

Excellent idea. Spridget hoses aren't the easiest for um- shall I say "mature"- fingers to access.

 

[BJ8Healeys]

I've gotten in the habit of smearing a little silicone grease on the inside of hoses--makes removal quite a bit easier.

I do the same thing, but I use a thin smear of anti-seize.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

I do the same thing, but I use a thin smear of anti-seize.

I believe most anti-seizes are petroleum-based, which can degrade rubber components that are not specifically produced to be resistant (e.g. fuel lines).

 

[BJ8Healeys]

I believe most anti-seizes are petroleum-based, which can degrade rubber components that are not specifically produced to be resistant (e.g. fuel lines).

Yes, I agree rubber can be deteriorated by petroleum. The anti-seize I use is Permatex, Item 80078. No idea what the carrier is because ingredients are not listed on the container, but it has aluminum in it (a quick search for it on-line finds that it is petroleum-based). Actually is intended for high-temperature applications such as spark plugs. I've been using it to keep coolant hoses from sticking for years and the reason I keep using it is I don't see any deterioration (and the hoses are easy to remove, too).
I just get a little on my finger and wipe it around the inside of the hose where it connects.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Yes, I agree rubber can be deteriorated by petroleum. The anti-seize I use is Permatex, Item 80078. No idea what the carrier is because ingredients are not listed on the container, but it has aluminum in it (a quick search for it on-line finds that it is petroleum-based). Actually is intended for high-temperature applications such as spark plugs. I've been using it to keep coolant hoses from sticking for years and the reason I keep using it is I don't see any deterioration (and the hoses are easy to remove, too).
I just get a little on my finger and wipe it around the inside of the hose where it connects.

Yeah, doubt you'd ever have a problem. I just have a big (expensive) tube of Dow Corning DC-4 I bought years ago to lube aircraft oil filter gaskets (on manufacturer recommendation), so I like to use it.

Since we're on/off topic, I read somewhere--maybe here, but I don't think so--that you SHOULDN'T use anti-seize on plugs. I've been doing it for years with no issues, but was surprised when I replaced plugs in my Mustang at 95K miles that there apparently wasn't any anti-seize agent used, even though the heads are Al. Anyone got data?

 

[fwtexasbj8]

I put a hex head hose clamp on mine then use an air ratchet with low pressure to keep from over-tightening the clamp. Made the job a lot easier!

 

[Tproject]

Just reading through this posting and the discussion seems to revolve around valve adjustment. Do you really adjust your valves cold rather than hot as indicated on the valve cover? If you do what clearance do you use?

 

[BJ8Healeys]

Tproject, the valve cover says hot, the workshop manual says cold. Adjusting them cold is easier on the fingers, so I adjust them cold to 0.012".

 

[Randy Forbes]

Yeah, doubt you'd ever have a problem. I just have a big (expensive) tube of Dow Corning DC-4 I bought years ago to lube aircraft oil filter gaskets (on manufacturer recommendation), so I like to use it.

Since we're on/off topic, I read somewhere--maybe here, but I don't think so--that you SHOULDN'T use anti-seize on plugs. I've been doing it for years with no issues, but was surprised when I replaced plugs in my Mustang at 95K miles that there apparently wasn't any anti-seize agent used, even though the heads are Al. Anyone got data?

Because BMW cyinder heads cost than I make in a week (sometimes a month!) I looked into it a bit.

Like you, I have always put just *a smear* of anti-seize, in my case Kopr-Shield, on the plug threads (starting a thread or two away from the end, in the hopes that none of it ever makes it inside the combustion chamber). Probably has to do with that picture some of us saw in a magazine back in the 60s of a stripped plug hole in a 356 Porsche!

Modern wisdom is that the sparkplugs, the ones with the silver colored, plated bodies, are designed and manufactured to be installed without lubrication. If you're using plugs that have a plain steel body, (Autolite, maybe?) then anti-seize is still recommended.

I've found that with my own cars, ones that I've had the opportunity to pull the plugs on several times in the course of a decade (or close to 4 decades, with the Healey) that the residual coating suffices for many years, and successive plug changes can go in right out of the box.

Nowadays when working with a customer's BMW, if the old plugs were hard coming out, then I put just the thinnest smear on the threads__any less and the can would still be on the shelf, kind of like the extra dry Martini!

Plugs into aluminum heads are always torqued to spec, 22 to 25 Nm, depending on 10 or 12 mm (Healey plugs are 14mm__I think) and when I'm doing Healey plugs by hand, I just gauge their tightness by limiting the tool used to a 1/2" drive speed handle, or not much more than you could apply by holding a T-handle in the middle with one (1) hand. Gorillas and truck drivers need not apply

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Thanks for the feedback, Randy. I exercised my fingers a little and found: https://www.jagrepair.com/images/AutoRepairPhotos/NGK_TB-0630111antisieze.pdf

So, like any other threaded fastener, if you use a lubricant the applied torque should be less. IIRC, when I changed the Mustang's threads the spec was 8ft-lbs--actually, 96in-lbs--so I set the T-wrench to 84in-lbs (7ft-lbs). There's a big problem with some Ford engines with the long-snouted, two-piece plugs: the clearance is so tight between the plug barrel and the plug hole the inevitable carbon build-up would freeze the plug in the head, and the plug would snap when you tried to remove them (there is actually a special tool to remove the snapped-off piece, that I gather is only somewhat successful). Thankfully, the Mustang has the later, one-piece design (by a couple hundred serial numbers no less).

More here: https://www.fjrforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=142977

 

[Randy Forbes]

Almost makes you want to pull the plugs out every weekend throughout the life of the car! I have read the articles in the trade rags about how shops are dealing with the F-150s; not pretty!

Sure makes those easy to get to, no surprises, Healey plugs a treat!