Are the threads on these bolts SAE or metric? Or, are they some type of specially rolled roundstock, made by GM exclusively, at a plant in Madagascar?! When engine teardown time comes, I'd like to eighty-six every one of the highly strippable bastards and replace 'em with a hex head. Can this be done or are they another one of the General's twisted engineering jokes?


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92 Formula 305 TPI Auto.
88 S-10 2.8 V-6 Auto.
83 Sedan deVille 4.1 Auto.

 

Wata,

Torx(R) is a proprietary design drive system owned by Camcar/Textron. The drive system was originally intended to be a high-torque drive that lent itself well to automated assembly equipment. The engineers at GM saw the value of a reliable drive system in automated equipment, and your car prices are lower as a result. Incidentally, you'll find these in many types of equipment, not just vehicles.

Torx(R) heads are both female (recessed) and male (extrended) and are available in both S.A.E. and metric thread patterns. You should be able to find the correct replacement fasteners at any respectable hardware store or industrial supplier (i.e., NOT Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.) in any S.A.E. or ISO hardness grade.

Personally, I never have trouble with the "highly strippable bastards" since I don't use cheap, ill-fitting, or worn out drive bits. Many drive bits are made in every third-world nation imaginable, and are not often the same quality and fit as Apex or VA bits. You get what you pay for.

As I recall, most of the Torx(R) on the intakes of TPIs are metric.

And in case you were wondering, yes, I DID work with Textron for 18 years, but with another one of their fastener concerns...makes it really easy to accumulate a supply of perfectly-fitting, premium-quality bits at very affordable prices.

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Later,
Vader
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"No matter how hard you try you can't stop us now"
Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0

 

My first set was "Crapsman". The next set was from the neighborhood S-K man. I should have suspected something the minute I saw the eye patch and the parrot on his shoulder!
Thanks for the info.
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92 Formula 305 TPI Auto.
88 S-10 2.8 V-6 Auto.
83 Sedan deVille 4.1 Auto.

[This message has been edited by watajob (edited January 01, 2001).]

 

Hmmm... He's evil, wears black, is unconcerned by mere mortals and the moral baggage associated with them. Affordable prices?

<center><u>No Comment.</u></center>




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"I don't want to be right - I just want to know if I'm right"
-Einstein

 

He just borrowed those bits.

 

wata, you dont like s-k tools?

 

Yeah, I'll make sure they get back there when I'm finished with my "project"...

Actually, many very good punches, bits, dies, and general fixtures and tooling are scrapped daily in order to maintain quality control. Much of what they threw in the recycle drums never made it to the scrap hauler. I figure I just saved some energy by "directly recycling" the discarded items.

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Later,
Vader
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"No matter how hard you try you can't stop us now"
Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0

[This message has been edited by Vader (edited January 01, 2001).]

 

Where I work they threw out a whole dumpster worth of computers, printers and related items that still worked. Thousands of dollars wasted and wouldnt let any employees take any of it. Most employees got lowsy raises because there was not enough in the buget go figure.

 

red devil that's why vader is my hero, i want to be just like him when i grow up.

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ICON Motorsports
1st & 3rd

 

Ed,

Who the hell decided we were going to grow up?!

I was just starting to have some real fun, too....

I guess you're going to expect me to start paying taxes, and getting those stupid metal number/letter plates for my car?

Pretty soon you'll want me to wear pants when I leave the house. You're just as controlling as those guys at work!

Grow up? NEVER!!

(O.K., maybe a little bit. But can I still keep my ThirdGen?)

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Later,
Vader
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"No matter how hard you try you can't stop us now"
Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0

 

The upper torx bolts in your TPI are metric thread. The ones that attach the intake manifold to the heads are standard thread. I've seen stainless steel hex head and 12 point style bolt kits for TPI's offered by some aftermarket companies. I have to agree with Vader though, I've never had any problems with the heads stripping either, as long as you use decent bits.

 

give "totally stainless" a call. I got a complete set of tpi bolts for about 22 bucks, hex head. they sell pretty much every other bolt for the engine too (note: the tpi kit does not include manifold to head bolts). They are very reasonable and the shipping was very quick for me.

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89 Iroc-Z LB9 305 TPI auto 2.73 posi:
3" Dynomax "cat" back,K&N filters, TB bypass, 3" pipe in place of cat, cleaned and flow-matched injectors, 180' thermo, mild ignition mods, synthetic oil, kicker sound system, soon to attempt engine swap...