Thread sealants

[John Hall]

Stick with Loctite…no pun intended..

 

[highwood122]

'loads but will be subject to vibration. I can use nyloc nuts in most places but not all.

When I used to fix car engines back in the 70's, it was copa-slip for threads you wanted to undo, red (or green?) Hermatite for stuff you wanted to stay put. It doesn't exist any more, my initial thought is a smear of clear silicone sealant on the thread but any other suggestions welcome. The objective is to prevent any looseness and noise.

do not use silicon

 

[clogs]

do u remember the ford transit diesel engine that sounded like a bag of hammer's.....
well that was the first factory built engine tha only used silicone for the sump sealing..
every overhaul eng set of gaskets never came with a sump gasket...
used properly it works well......

 

[Fergie 307]

Jeep also use silocone sealant at the factory, notably in their diff covers. Used properly and in the right place it's very useful, Not for locking threads though. Apart from the fact it won't necessarily work very well, you will find it very difficult to remove from threaded holes if you ever need to. Stick to Loctite or similar, that's what it's designed for.

 

[Richard_C]

Thanks all.

As usual lots of good information and diversions which add value. Gasket reference sparked memories. I never had a gasket-free Ford sump but I did once buy some 'instant gasket' to fix a distorted thermostat housing on my Hillman Hunter. Worked, outlived the car if I recall correctly. Piston ring broke at 167,000 miles and not worth the rebuild 'cos all the other bits had done 167k miles as well. A flatmate I shared with in the 70s had an Anglia 100E, side valve engine, which was 'chuffing' round the cylinder head so he coated the gasket both sides with araldite, torqued it down and sold the car. Not sure I would have done that (ethically) but often the car tax was worth more than the car back then and you could get almost anything from local scrapyards.

Loctite it will be. Probably blue 242, hoping never to dismantle but using heat to release the red sort might be impractical.

I will be using shakeproof washers of many kinds wherever I can so this is belt and braces. My son is an orchestral percussionist and has a huge range of instruments, but we plan to restore an old orchestral bass drum and an unusal floating head snare drum. In both cases there are fittings bolted though the shell, and if you get any loosness of any kind it sounds like a swarm of angry bees. If you do get a noise its often a real pig to identify where its coming from and a lengthy job to get to it. The snare has occupied much frustrating time already so full stripdown and rebuild is the only answer.

 

[AES]

Thanks all.

As usual lots of good information and diversions which add value. Gasket reference sparked memories. I never had a gasket-free Ford sump but I did once buy some 'instant gasket' to fix a distorted thermostat housing on my Hillman Hunter. Worked, outlived the car if I recall correctly. Piston ring broke at 167,000 miles and not worth the rebuild 'cos all the other bits had done 167k miles as well. A flatmate I shared with in the 70s had an Anglia 100E, side valve engine, which was 'chuffing' round the cylinder head so he coated the gasket both sides with araldite, torqued it down and sold the car. Not sure I would have done that (ethically) but often the car tax was worth more than the car back then and you could get almost anything from local scrapyards.

Loctite it will be. Probably blue 242, hoping never to dismantle but using heat to release the red sort might be impractical.

I will be using shakeproof washers of many kinds wherever I can so this is belt and braces. My son is an orchestral percussionist and has a huge range of instruments, but we plan to restore an old orchestral bass drum and an unusal floating head snare drum. In both cases there are fittings bolted though the shell, and if you get any loosness of any kind it sounds like a swarm of angry bees. If you do get a noise its often a real pig to identify where its coming from and a lengthy job to get to it. The snare has occupied much frustrating time already so full stripdown and rebuild is the only answer.

Thanks for bringing back some real old memories Richard C (especially the bit about a 100E Anglia, and about the car tax being worth more than the car)! Also thanks for the stuff about drums, etc. V interesting, all new to me.

 

[Richard_C]

and about the car tax being worth more than the car

Completely off topic now. Around the same time a friend had a PB Cresta, complete liability. Thirsty, leaky (rain got in to the bit you sit in, oil, water, petrol and brake fluid leaked out of so many places), bouncy because the shock absorbers were shot and rusty, very rusty even by Vauxhall Cresta standards. So it being the era of car thefts he tried to get it stolen by always leaving it unlocked and with the keys in the ignition.

One late night we came back to it in Manchester City centre to find someone had smashed the rear screen to steal a cheap radio and a copy of the MEN football pink off the parcel shelf. Despite it being unlocked. Rats. The scrapyard beckoned and he never got the insurance money.

Ah, memories.