I opened up the side of the engine to inspect the cooling passages. I am happy that there is very little rust, but the bolts came out with a lot of resistance and 2 of them snapped off. With the cover off I could feel that the 2 broken bolts extended into the water jacket by a small amount and that area of the bolts were badly rusted. All of the removed bolts showed rust on the ends. I drilled out the broken bolts and cleaned up all of the threads. I have a set of new grade 8 bolts to put in. My questions are #1 what should I do (if anything) to the ends of the bolts that will extend a little into the water jacket? #2, what would be a good sealent that might also give a little corrosion protection to the bolts? I can just slop them up with non-hardening Permatex or paint the bolts with Rustolium primer and then Permatex? or any other suggestion? _____Grant.
Cooling side cover plate?
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STRONGLY recommend that you change to studs and nuts for this connection.
Studs should be non-corrosive: stainless is good. The Moyer kit for this job uses stainless studs. Some have done it with stainless set screws from McMaster. Did mine with brass all-thread from HD. Depends on whether you're raw water cooled (use stainless) or have a heat exchanger and glycol (brass is fine).
Install studs with permanent sealant - I used JB-Weld, on the stud and in the hole. The holes in the block should be chased with a tap and cleaned with solvent before stud installation.
Once the studs are installed, clean up any excess sealant then install the cover plate and gasket - I like to use the blue silicone sealant in this location. Nuts and washer of your choice - stainless looks good. No more leaks.
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One of the charms of set screws for this application is you can hold them stationary with an allen wrench while torquing the brass hex nuts on or off. It prevents breaking the seal where the stud is threaded into the block.Neil
1977 Catalina 30
San Pedro, California
prior boats 1987 Westsail 32, 1970 Catalina 22
Had my hands in a few others
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I bought the grade 8 bolts since that is what Moyer sells and my hardware store has a good selection. My question about the sealant is so that I dont have water coming out the threads. I dont think the gasket is a problem but water can run up the threads and leak or cause corrosion. Having broken off two of the old bolts because the threads extended into the water passage I wanted to avoid that. This was a Great Lakes engine so it has only had fresh water thru it. I tried the next shorter bolt length and it would not have worked. I am going to convert to a heat exchanger so I assume the antifreeze will go a long ways toward preventing corrosion. Thanks for all of the responses. Grant.
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