What now?

SCjanerun

Registered User
I've been psyching myself up for weeks to do valve cover gaskets on my 89 SC. I read all your posts and printed them and have been carrying them and pics of my engine around like I'm studying for some sort of test. Well I finally convinced myself I could do it. I'm on vacation from work this week and since book time to do the job is over 5 hrs. I figured this would give me plenty of time should something go wrong. And you all know it will. And, well.....it did. I was trying to loosen a nut, and just heard a snap. How could I have broken it? I'm a chick. It's not like I have brute strength. I don't even know what "it" is :confused: All I know is it looks fatal. Whatever it is, it's done. My question to all of you is: What the heck did I break? I had to take it off to get to the valve cover. My second question is: Now what? OK. Maybe a third question...where's the crying smiley? ;(
Thanks in advance for all of your opinions/suggestions.

Jane

OK..all you guys who are laughing at me...I deserve it. Can you say Lefty loosey, righty tighty. Yes, as my dad pointed out to me today, I was tightening, not loosening. So, onward and upward. I still think I have more courage than most to do my own work, especially on an SC. So now I'll figure out what exactly has to be done to the return plenum (is it aluminum?) and go from there. Thanks to all for your replies. Now, all I need is some encouragement to go finish the valve cover job I started. Any bets on what I destroy next?!
 

Attachments

  • oops.jpg
    oops.jpg
    96.1 KB · Views: 263
  • oops2.jpg
    oops2.jpg
    107.6 KB · Views: 219
Last edited:
SCjanerun said:
I've been psyching myself up for weeks to do valve cover gaskets on my 89 SC. I read all your posts and printed them and have been carrying them and pics of my engine around like I'm studying for some sort of test. Well I finally convinced myself I could do it. I'm on vacation from work this week and since book time to do the job is over 5 hrs. I figured this would give me plenty of time should something go wrong. And you all know it will. And, well.....it did. I was trying to loosen a nut, and just heard a snap. How could I have broken it? I'm a chick. It's not like I have brute strength. I don't even know what "it" is :confused: All I know is it looks fatal. Whatever it is, it's done. My question to all of you is: What the heck did I break? I had to take it off to get to the valve cover. My second question is: Now what? OK. Maybe a third question...where's the crying smiley? ;(

I'm trying to attach pics of the broken part, not sure if it will work. My computer is related to my SC!
Thanks in advance for all of your opinions/suggestions.

Jane
Where was the nut located? On what part?
 
You might not have broken anything. I've taken apart my SC many a times and have been loosenig bolts and heard a "snap" sound come from them. My first thought too was that I broke it but that was not the case. For some reason they just make that noise from time to time. I would go ahead and remove whatever you are taking it apart and see if it is broken. The damage has already been done if it has snapped.
 
Last edited:
MySCRocket1203 said:
it could be rust snapping free i just remvoed my exhaust manifolds and i heard that sound 12 times btw my headers look great

Sometimes when a nut or bolt is torqued, it will snap when loosening it. Do you know what it was yet?
 
I don't know quite how to describe this, but when a bolt breaks, it has this sickening sort of smooth give to it that makes it easy to turn, but not like its actually loose. If you were pulling on the bolt and it loosened quickly and you could then turn it but you still feel resistance when you tighten and loosen it, then you might be just fine.

As for book time, always at least double it the first time you do a job. For a novice shade-tree mechanic, multiply by 5.. So 5 hours becomes 25 hours.. It sounds like an exaggeration but really. I've done a TON of jobs on the SC and other cars and I've never yet had any of them go by the book. My wife's van had a steering column part snap into pieces; the book gave the toyota techs something like 2 hours; took me 7 ;) thats with some head scratching trying to figure out how to remove some tricky fasteners. You have to have experience and know the shortcuts to get those times. Profesisonal tools also make a big difference, but there's no substitute for experience in knowing how to use them. :rolleyes:
 
:eek: Oh jane.. I afraid thats an Oh SH**! :eek: :eek:

That's your rear intake plenum.. you might be able to get a replacement from a reseller here, but at this point I'd really advise you stop and get someone with mechanical experience to assist.

For future reference, its counterclockwise to loosen, clockwise to tighten.. or as the older guys used to say "righty tightey, lefty loosey".
 
Last edited:
OH S**T, you broke your return plenum that bolts to your intake manifold :eek:! You can probably get one from one of the parts guy around here for pretty cheap.
 
TbirdSCFan said:
:eek: Oh jane.. I afraid thats an Oh SH**! :eek: :eek:

That's your rear intake plenum.. you might be able to get a replacement from a reseller here, but at this point I'd really advise you stop and get someone with mechanical experience to assist.

For future reference, its counterclockwise to loosen, clockwise to tighten.. or as the older guys used to say "righty tightey, lefty loosey".

Jane,

What he said...from the looks of it, you were tightning the nut instead of loosening. You should be able to get a replacement adaptor for $25 over on the classified section. Once you remove the supercharger it comes off pretty easy.

David
 
I emailed her and let her know that there's one on ebay and Darkside has one for sale as well. The pic was too big to post on here. Maybe someone can resize it? Definately UGLY :(
 
TbirdSCFan said:
:eek: Oh jane.. I afraid thats an Oh SH**! :eek: :eek:

That's your rear intake plenum.. you might be able to get a replacement from a reseller here, but at this point I'd really advise you stop and get someone with mechanical experience to assist.

For future reference, its counterclockwise to loosen, clockwise to tighten.. or as the older guys used to say "righty tightey, lefty loosey".

Not quite the words I used. Mine were worse! What's worse is that I caused it. Now I'm second guessing the whole valve cover job. I recently put a motor in my other car and am not afraid to tackle most jobs, but the SC is a breed of it's own. I'll keep ya updated.
 
You're pretty tough! We coulda used you to crack my intake manifold bolts loose when we did my headgaskets! Well... If you turn them the right way! :rolleyes: J/K
 
YEEOUCH! That smarts..

Be not discouraged though, I swear these things can smell fear. Don't let it get you!

I snapped my crankshaft after I had it for 2 weeks, and pulled the motor the next day.

crank02.jpg


You can do it, we're here to help.
 
I don't want to quell your enthusiasm, but I really think your best bet is to get some experienced help with it. You can turn and pull the wrenchs if you wish with their assistance, but due to some of the certain finesse involved with dissassembly and reassembly, like when to pull hard, not to pull, when to hit, not to hit, pry, not to pry.. there just isn't a substitute for experience and good tools. If you dive in, I'm just not sure we/I can get you out intact. Nothing on the Supercoupe engine is what I'd call simple.
 
TbirdSCFan said:
I don't want to quell your enthusiasm, but I really think your best bet is to get some experienced help with it. You can turn and pull the wrenchs if you wish with their assistance, but due to some of the certain finesse involved with dissassembly and reassembly, like when to pull hard, not to pull, when to hit, not to hit, pry, not to pry.. there just isn't a substitute for experience and good tools. If you dive in, I'm just not sure we/I can get you out intact. Nothing on the Supercoupe engine is what I'd call simple.

I agree with you. I'm still thinking about what to do. The simplest thing turns into a nightmare. And as you said in a previous post, there is no such thing as book time with an SC. It shouldn't go by hours, it should go by how many aspirin you'll need. Like brakes would be a 2 aspirin job. Plugs a 10 aspirin job. Replacing a plenum a 3 bottle job, etc. :D
 
Let me sift through my pile-0-parts. I am betting I have a spare on the super cheap side, no bidding or haggeling required. I'd personally use that breakage as a trophee :eek:
 
green73 said:
Let me sift through my pile-0-parts. I am betting I have a spare on the super cheap side, no bidding or haggeling required. I'd personally use that breakage as a trophee :eek:

don't stress it... my first time messing with an engine happened to be this one... I snapped the lower bolt loop off of the top intercooler tube... You're not alone...
 
I sifted through my "pile-o-parts" and I do have a spare. PM me if you want it. it has the studs, and sensor too.
 
Back
Top