Stupid Thing I missed W/Pic. Pissed at Myself.

[Daveh]

Well I got everything in the engine and was excited to put the antifreeze in and on the second gallon there was anti freeze all over the ground.  I missed a timing cover bolt. Not my finest hour.  Now I need to take the front of the engine off and water pump to get to this darn bolt.  I can't see how I missed it.

Does anyone know the size?  I have to take the timing cover off.  I can't get to the hole with a bolt.   Thanks

Dave

[1 Wild R/T]

Timing cover stays, water pump has to come off....  bolt is 3/8-16 probably 2 1/4" long could be shorter but if you get a 2 1/4 & it's to long you can cut it down...

[Daveh]

Thanks.  I had to walk away before I did something stupid.  It will wait for another day.   

Dave

[1 Wild R/T]

Thanks.  I had to walk away before I did something stupid.  It will wait for another day.   

Dave

BTDT, walk away, crack a beer, it'll be waiting for you when you feel up to it...

[Daveh]

Already walked and the beer has been cracked.   

Although still stewing. 

[1 Wild R/T]

Look at the bright side, you went with bare aluminum, if you had painted everything for the OE look now you'd have a hell of a time trying to do an invisible repair.....

When I restored my vert back in 95 the engine compartment was close to OE reference level, well as close as anyone who plans to drive their car should get it...  When the car had about 1500 miles on it the impeller fell off the water pump......  WTH.... Anyway, I did what I could but it never looked as good as it had before....

[cudamadd]

Don't worry you are not the first person and will not be the last person to make this easy mistake. ya you done the best thing walking away 

[340Challman]

Beer fixes almost everything, especially when you're out of beer. 
In an attempt to try and add a little icing to your Wiener schnitzel, your engine compartment is outstanding.  Be proud.

[Chryco Psycho]

We have all made mistakes , just part of being human , the best part is learning from them !
Like when I was trying to paint my water pump pulley , I bet I stripped & painted it 10+ times due to fish eyes  , I believe I gave up & installed it will fish eyes , I could not prevent it . 

[Brads70]

Yup we all do silly things..... this week I went to swap out a brake switch on the family Suburban. When I was all done I couldn't figure out why the brake light was on in the dash? Swapped back the old part, light still on ? I was getting pretty flustered, finally called up a buddy who owns a shop, he said if I was stuck to bring it over. So after getting more and more flustered I did.  In like 10 seconds after asking me some questions, he reached over and released the parking brake. I must have pressed it when laying under the dash.....     

He just laughed and teased me and said " don't worry . we'll keep this one just between us" 

[torredcuda]

That`s an easy one, I installed an engine and trans into the `69 Barracuda I was biulding only to see the flex plate sitting on the bench, DOH!     

[Burdar]

That bolt sucks.  In case you didn't know, you CAN'T use a washer under the head of that bolt.  If you do, the head will be too tall and it will hit the water pump inlet.  The factory didn't use a washer there.  Just thought I'd let you know so you wouldn't get it all back together only to find a huge coolant leak because the water pump wasn't sitting flush against the cover.

[JH27N0B]

When I was reassembling my T/A and when we first started the engine, I had coolant leaking from a bolt in the front of the engine.  I can't remember which one now, if it was a water pump bolt or something else.  I was freaking out because the bolt was tight and I had no clue why it was leaking or what to do to fix.
Fortunately Mopar Mitch, who is here on the board, was helping me and told me the bolt in question penetrated a water jacket in the block, and you simply needed to coat the bolt with some sort of gasket material or sealer which he had a tube of.  We did that and the leak was cured.   
Maybe someone here can remind me of what sealer you use on bolts that penetrate a water jacket?

[Daveh]

All,

Thanks for all the well wishes.  I'm over it now.  I just need to dig back in, suck it up and fix it. 

JH27NOB this is the thread sealant I used on the bolts going into the water jacket.  Although it doesn't work well if there is no bolt present.   

[ply64post]

Dave h

Here are a couple pages from Dave Wises E Body fastener book.

                                                                       Jeff