Originally Posted by
fyrstormer
I know from experience that tightening cylinder-head bolts with a white-knuckle grip will damage things.
Google is a good place to get a million different answers. I was hoping to cut through the BS and get suggestions from people who've already figured out the best answer. That's what forums are supposed to be for, after all.
God, $197 for a torque driver? That's insane. I could buy 10 big torque wrenches for that price -- they wouldn't do me any good, but I could buy them anyway. What makes the Sturtevant Richmont torque driver worth $197?
It seems that you took my tongue in cheek response literally! Over the years you get a feel for it and know how tight things need to be without having to use a torque wrench for everything. I'm an aircraft engineer and spend most of my days dealing with ensuring things are correctly torqued to very tight specs. I can hand tighten bolts and be so very close to the correct torque when final torque loaded with the correct torque wrench. So for me I don't need to worry. If you have little 'feeling' then knock yourself out.... Not needed in my opinion for the most part, don't over think it. In all the years I've been racing nitro I've never seen anyone use a torque wrench on head bolts - if you can do any damage to those using a normal flat head screw driver or allen driver (not a 1/4 drive 90 degree wrench!) then you are much stronger than I am.