Ford recommends only 8 to 10 lb/ft on their 4.6/5.4 engines…with nickel-based anti-seize. Most two stroke engines I’ve worked on are generally specced at 15. But, the xk engine has many more threads to distribute the load than the Ford so 15 is just fine…no need to go higher AND this spec is easy to hit by feel alone, as Wigs said.
Grim. I recall my wife and I sitting outside an auto parts store while we watched a really old guy go in carrying a couple of used brake rotors. She said ‘Well, that’s the last time he’ll have to do that’. I laughed.
Now I am close to that guy’s age and it isn’t nearly as amusing.
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“… I always go with 18 (actually 216 inch lbs)…”
Just got a pair of nice shiny new torques for my Xmas gift…one is a 250 inch lb jobby…good idea, I’ll use that, just to see what 18ft lbs feels like…then dump my HF version.
Compare the two: see how the HF stacks up.
The Harbor Freight clicker wrenches have always stacked up well in reviews as far as accuracy is concerned. I bought their 1/4 200 in/lb wrench just for the purposes of small jobs like spark plugs.
I wish I could find the link, but there was a site (I think from a well known car magazine outfit) that compared torque wrenches, and the HF unit compared well to the high priced models (including some from Griot’s Garage, which imports expensive European models for their offerings - they do change brands periodically so I can’t say which make they offered at the time.)
Dave
I’ve read reviews in the past that said the HF torque wrenches were pretty accurate. In fact:
I think that was Hot Rod
Though I no longer buy any hand tools from HD (if for no other reason, I have all I need!), over the past 5-8 years, I’ve noticed an apparent increase in quality of their hand tools.
Glad to hear stuff like torque wrenches stand up favorably.
Using only a single wrench from each manufacturer for this test could be a problem. Better if they had measured 10 of each then Look at the distribution of the data. I have an old school SK torque wrench that has a beam, pointer and pivoting grip. It’s all about the strength of the steel beam.
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When I worked at P&WA the torque wrenches they used were beam, pointer and pivoting grip – but the beam was a flat bar rather than a round bar. Periodically they’d send these torque wrenches off to a lab for calibration. If they applied more torque than indicated, they’d grind a bit off the sides of that flat bar to make it bend easier until it read within spec. If it applied less torque than indicated, they’d peel off the scale under the needle, apply a new scale, and then grind the sides until the torque wrench was within spec on that scale. The wrench would get a calibration sticker with a date, and they were required to be checked within some time interval. I have no idea if the torque readings actually moved with use or age. Offhand, you’d think calibrate once and done.
When I was still working my employer had a metrology lab that verified/calibrated a wide range of mechanical and electrical devices. Their equipment and processes were directly traceable to the NIST. One day I took several of my torque wrenches into the lab to see how they did compared to the traceable standard. The old bar/needle wrench was accurate to within 10%, which is pretty good if you were very careful to mitigate the parallax you can get from the needle to the scale. The clicker wrenches I checked were from Craftsman and HF, and they varied in accuracy across their scales. Lesson- don’t use clicker torque wrenches in the bottom 20% or top 10% of their scales/ranges. Particularly the lower end of the ranges were really inaccurate. If used in the middle of their range, they were accurate to within 5-10% which is acceptable. The most accurate torque wrenches were the Snap-on dial indicator wrenches- if properly used they were accurate to within 2% or better. For automotive use the clickers are more than adequate, just be sure to unwind the spring every time when you are done using them or over time the springs can take a set and accuracy goes out the window.
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Also foudn this…
and this…
I think I’ll keep my old HF wrench…also, seems pretty clear to me that the ICON wrench, well, just isn’t worth it, unless you love glit.
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I’ve lubricated those threads for 40 years now on my xj6 with lubriplate,
and tighened them down against the gasket without any problem.
WalterFingers should be able to turn them in and out
Tighten with a small ratchet to feel.
Indeed: in 50+ years of installing plugs–countless thousands of them-- I learned from the best… Dad!
-always use some kind of No-Seez
–NEVER start a plug by a ratchet or speeder handle: always screw them in by hand, till the taper or gasket contacts, then tool tighten.
That is good advice for any nut, bolt or machine screw.
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Bit late - but besides anti seize, the only thing that is important is: does the plug vibrate or leak? If not, isn’t it tight enough?
Just snug is perfectly fine and anything more than that might risk damaging the threads - so… finger tight plus a quarter turn it is, or so. Or as much as it takes to crush the gasket. I don’t think a torque reading should be the last word on this
On the V12 H.E., good luck getting a hand in there! But the substitute is to use a length of 5/16" fuel hose pushed over the end of the plug. Use that to screw the plug in as far as you can turn it before the hose starts slipping on the insulator. Then use a spark plug socket with several corners ground away to get it in there, slip it in place on the plug, and tighten with an open-end wrench on the top end of the socket.
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I think it’s fine to use a plug socket and extension to start plugs by hand. It still needs to screw in freely by hand. It’s the addition of a ratchet and leverage that is the devil.
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I thought it was:
