I couldn't get the air temp sensor to fit in the plenum while it was bolted on to the engine, so I removed the plenum. I tried to re-tap the hole but I just couldn't get it to work. I think it's the right size but GBS have maybe used the wrong thread size for the Emerald sensor? I got annoyed and decided, as the sensor isn't something I'm likely to need to take out, to just use brute force and get the darn thing in.
Once in, I replaced the plenum on the engine and here disaster struck. Up to now, I haven't used my torque wrench much, mainly because it's surprisingly difficult to get an agreed setting for most bolts. GBS didn't want to give me any settings, saying they never used a torque wrench outside of the engine internals anyway. But, for some stupid reason, I decided to use it on the plenum bolts. And for an even stupider reason, I just set it to 50nm because that seemed 'about right'. I know, I know - a true idiot....
The bolts obviously aren't very strong - the inevitable happened and it snapped:
A tad miffed...
Update: not as serious as I first thought. I took the manifold off and the bolt had a few mm sticking out which I managed to grip with a set of pliers and I was able to simply unscrew it. Lucky escape...
After a coffee to calm down, I decided to start on some wiring, as the crimping tool arrived. First is to join the wires from the GBS engine link to the ECU; crimp and cover in heatshrink (not yet shrunk - need to sneak the hairdryer out of the house :-) ) :
Better to snap the bolt than thread the ali head!
ReplyDeleteCould have been worse.
You're not wrong... horrible feeling when it went. I actually started drilling the pilot hole in the bolt stud ready for the left-handed drill and I realised the bolt was loose enough to turn, which is why I tried the pliers. Never been happier to turn a bolt...
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