New to me Cj, 258 Valve cover confusion

[KawiTexan]

Hello everyone. Just bought a 1979 CJ five with a 250 and three speed Transmission . Previous owner said that the motor was ruined due to a horrible noise made when he pulled into the driveway on the jeeps previous successful drive. Also said it was puking oil terribly, so I purchased the jeep with the expectations of swapping the motor. Turns out the noise was just the water pump pulley coming off, but the jeep is literally pouring oil out of the valve cover gasket. So I replace the gasket, and when I did every single bolt stripped before I could get even close to torque specs . Has anybody had this issue before? Any ideas?


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[Saddle Tramp]

Not had the problem myself but might check and make sure the holes in the head for the valve cover bolts are clear. Try running a tap in them. Also make sure the bolts are new and the right grade; not China junk. (Just a WAG)

 

[mriplaybass]

Also, make sure that the PO did not put in metric bolts. Been there, done that!

 

[hdgapeach]

Also, make sure that the PO did not put in metric bolts. Been there, done that!

Exactly what I was thinking; wrong thread replacement bolts or metric. Clean the threaded holes good enough to get a look at the condition of the threads. Chase them with a bottom tap if necessary, AFTER you determine what tpi tap you need. If all looks good, install correct bolts. If the threads are truly stripped, you can oversize the hole, tap the next size up and get new size bolts or do the Heli-coil thing if any are offered for the size you need. I don't know how many size options are available for Heli-coils.

 

[Posi]

every single bolt stripped before I could get even close to torque specs .

What torque spec did you use?

 

[JimsCJ5]

Rather than helicoil you can use barrel inserts. You'll need the correct size drill bit and bottom tap but once you do that you'll never have to worry about it again. I've had helicoils pull out before.
Shouldn't need to torque the valve cover down either...Just snug it up.

 

[CJim7]

What torque spec did you use?

Exactly. Not to insult your intelligence, but it's an inch lb rating......between 5 and 7 I believe which is not relatively very tight by torque standards.

 

[IOPort51]

If you have to re drill the holes do yourself a favor and pull the head and put it on a drill press. If those holes are not dead nuts straight, you will never get all of then in. Had to redo a rebuilt head once that someone had put helicoils in. they were ever so slightly off plumb. who ever hand drilled them did a great job of getting them straight and it still was too far off to get all the bolts in. I did not find out about this until I had everything in and put the valve cover on for the first time. Talk about POd