BOLTS

[Keith]

OK so they aren't metric but can anyone tell me what those liddle bits that fasten the engine together are AF? Whitworth ?. OH and a personal request to Neilyman I've sorted the linkage got the heater take off modified and now I find those wonderfull liddle bolts that fasten the manifold to the head aren't long enough PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GI ME A CLUE.

any help will probably stave off insanity and angle grinder massacre

Keith

[Doive]

It really depends on which liddle bits you mean! I've found as I have gone round the car in the past that different bits are both metric and imperial, although for most removal processes all you need is 13mm, 17mm, 19mm sockets, and a 1 inch for the sump bung.

My only tip is to get out your sockets (metric and AF) and keep trying until one seems to fit. I have almost rounded the heads on quite a few bolts after a snug metric fit turned out to be very slightly loose, and I found the bolt was in fact AF despite all the ones around the same area being metric. No idea why, but they all looked original.

[Neilyman]

The manifold bolts are metric, M10, 13mm socket size, or mine are anyway! infact I believe all fasteners are metric on mine...even the sump. I use a 24mm for that Doive.
Just take an original bolt to your local bolt/nut supplies & tell them you want 2 off 12mm or whatever longer, should get them both for under a quid.
The `centre` bolt on the twin manifold is is ony about an inch long, so you might need to get one for that also. I just dug about in my box of odd bolts `till I found some that fit

[shuvit-tim]

i think over th eyears the wee beasties have probably had so many repairs that they may have been originally imperial and people have put metric bolts in when repairing them? Mine is the same as Doives, seems to be a mix of both over the car as a whole. I'm afraid i've no idea related specifically to your problem though Keith.

By the way, be VERY VERY careful when reattaching the manifold to the head, the metal on the 1256s wasnt particularly great 20 years ago, let alone now! it is very easy to cross-thread and then you have the joy of needing to re-tap the head. As for the bolts that do it, are you using the original bolts that came out in the first place? If so they must be long enough and something isnt quite sat right. If you are using new ones, then try either your vauxhall dealership or a scrapyard is all i can advise. sorry if i'm teaching you to suck eggs!

[Neilyman]

Tim, He`s fitting a Brabham twin carb manifold, it`s alot different from the single manifold & needs longer bolts on the outer holes & a shorter one in the middle.
BTW, you can`t substitute a metric bolt where an imperial one should be!
It`s not refering to the head size, it`s the thread that matters.
A 13mm 6 point socket will fit 1/2" nuts/bolts heads no problem (1/2" is 12.7mm) but the thread is totally different & not interchangable!

My tip of the week is to throw all your 12 point sockets into a box at the back of your garage/wardrobe & invest in 6 point ones, they don`t `round off` nuts/bolts. If you really want to be snobby with them make sure they have Teng or Facom stamped on them & don`t lend them to anyone !!

[shuvit-tim]

i've used a halfords professional 120 piece kit for all of my spannering and it's top quality. I was amazingly surprised! I'm yet to bend any of the chrome vanadium spanners or ratchets even using a scaff bar as an extension to undo things which seem to have been welded! It also comes with lots of 6 points as well as 12 points! hurrah!

[Neilyman]

I think Halfords good tackle is made by Draper, so it`s not bad gear.
Britool, Gedore, Sykes-Pickavant, etc are also very good. Being in the motor trade for 20 odd yrs has taught me not to use cheapo chocolate sockets & rubber spanners, they`re dangerous!....Don`t go down the Snap-on route either...very good quality...very high price...but everyone wants to nick `em!!
They`re also becoming a Chav icon...some of the local Neds have Snap-on seat covers & sun strips...dunno why they`d need tools like that though, all they need is a tube of `No Nails` to fix the MFI sink unit to the front of their ride

12 point sockets are the Devils Spawn, they are useful as `drifts` (no, not that type) for doing bearings/bushes jobs though!!!!!

[Doive]

I bought the biggest tool box in the Halfords range four years ago for 70 quid. It came with three ratchets - 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2", plus all the sockets to go with them. Strangely the 1/4 set are all six point, while the 3/8 are twelve point, meaning any leverage work needs to be done with the bigger ratchet with the crap sockets. Have overcome this by buying a set of combination spanners which allow silly torques to be placed on them (usually with 14 stone of Doive perched atop of them) and haven't rounded a bolt yet.

Speaking of welded fixings, often new cars are the biggest offenders. Working on a 1998 Corsa recently to replace the brake discs, the hex headed bolts holding on the calliper carriers appeared to have been located using some sort of uber glue. Took me standing on top of the ratchet with an extension and the hex adaptor to move the thing. The bolt hadn't seized, Vauxhall must have dropped it into thread lock at the factory. Someone was telling me that the mk5 Astra is a bit of a nightmare to work on.

[shuvit-tim]

managed to change the calipers discs and pads on a bravo in 2 hours not long ago. Very easy to work on to my amazement as they were very similar to the ATE calipers I have on the nova. But for some reason the rear calliper bolts (which require an allen key) were of an odd size, ie, ii thought i had every allen key in th eworld and none of them fitted. In the end I had to use a torque bit? (eg T15). This then needed a 6 ft scaff bar and a bit of the jumpy jumpy treatment. Terrible idea I know, but seems to work

[Keith]

Cheers People
I only realy waanted to know what type of threads were on the bolts that hold the engine together cos I sort of beleived that the body bits was metric but cos it was an old, old engine it used old joes unified coarse windmill standard millstone or summat like.
Anyway I know now I am ashamed to open my toolbox in public and that most of the bolts on the S£$%^ING car were hand cut by the vauxhall bolt gnome after he'd eaten his little mushroom house.
Also my local vauxhall dealer is of no help what so ever cos they done away with the microfiche so now the shuvit officialy dont exist.
On a happier note,got some magic bolts so now the manifold fits, found a flywheel so the rebuild can restart so the blue thing may be back on the road for summer I mean what else can go wrong.
PLEASE,PLEASE, PLEASE dont answer that

Once again thanks for the input


Keith