Valve Cover Bolts-Broken

[gacklez]

Wow, I'm back-- lets just say this weekend hasn't been too friendly to me and my S. Soo, I decided to paint my valve cover black.. I did a friggin wonderful job and everything came out perfect imo. I was putting it back on, I got to the last valve cover bolt(the ones that have rubber gaskets and rounded washers) and it felt like it was going in really loose. I kept tightening it and I wasn't getting much resistance and all of a sudden it just snapped off inside of the sleeve it screws into. I tried everything, I bought a drill, tried to use those ehh.. what are they? easy out or bolt extractor or whatever... it basically bent the bolt extractor and had it's way no matter what I tried. It moved a little when I pounded on it with a pointpunch and a hammer. But then all of a sudden it stopped coming out and didn't budge after that. Needless to say, my paint on the valve cover is ruined and it's the least of my concerns. I was looking on majestichonda and I see they have the bolts and the thing you screw it into I believe. Does anyone have any experience buying from these folks and if so how long does it normally take to ship that stuff? I have a road trip a week where I'm on leave for a month from the Air Force and I was planning on driving all over the South-Eastern U.S. I sort of want to make sure I'm looking at the right parts as well.. It says "BOLT B, HEAD COVER"-- I'm wondering if that bolt just removes no problem or if I'd have to worry about stuff sliding around in the head when I take that one out or what.. I'm just wondering if I can do that here around my house or if I need a pro to tackle it.

Thanks guys, I definitely need to get a membership here when I'm not worried about travel finances :o

Jason

[bimdub]

Majestic Honda will be fine, it would appear that you have the right part.....however make sure its Bolt B....there is a difference between the A and B Bolt. you should be able to remove it with no worries, the valvetrain is held together with 20 bolts so replacing one is not going to cause you any trouble.

[repiv]

Of the 20 cam cover bolts, 5 of these have extensions on the top and it is these extensions that the valve cover bolts screw into. 2 are Bolt A and 3 are Bolt B. It depends on which one you broke.
Try your local Honda dealer and ask them where the nearest part might be located and how long it would take to get it. It might just turn out that Majestic has to get it from the same place your local dealer gets it from and you may be able to skip the a step (shipping to you instead of you just going down to the dealer to pick it up).

[gacklez]

Yeah.. too bad me :( I ordered 2nd day from fedex for like 80 bucks to get the bolt b and the top special bolt delivered tomorrow. I ordered it from Majestic sunday and asked my local dealership yesterday and he was like.. uhh there are only three BOLT B's in the U.S. and I could have had it here Tuesday for $60 --- soo I guess I could have saved 20 on shipping and had it a day earlier =/ oh well. I can't be too sad though, I got my mugen replica top yesterday. I sat it on the car because I haven't gotten the hardware yet(should come in tomorrow along with my head bolts) and it looks friggin incredible. My brother is a painter so when I go up to visit he's painting it berlina for me. I have a silverstone car but I'm going with a black/silverstone theme eventually. Looks good imo

I'm moving to England for three years on the 23rd.. this club is for America I see, but do you have any overseas members?

[gacklez]

BTW the top is made by VIS or whatever.. I've seen their name before.. it's the Techno R one or whatever.. are they a decent brand or what? I didn't get carbon because I'm painting it anyway. Thanks a lot for the help repiv, you've been my savior for the past week or so haha

[repiv]

I'm moving to England for three years on the 23rd.. this club is for America I see, but do you have any overseas members?
I don't see why you can't be a member and be overseas. There are lots of military people with S2000s who are on duty all over the world and who are members. I think "Club of America" is in name only. I mean, look at me. I'm a flaming Canuck. I belonged to the Gobi Desert Canoe Club for a while. ;)

[repiv]

BTW the top is made by VIS or whatever.. I've seen their name before.. it's the Techno R one or whatever.. are they a decent brand or what?
"VIS" is a well known maker of "clones". Some of their stuff is good and some of it is not so good. Fitment is usually the major complaint. If it doesn't quite line up, install it and push it into position as best you can and do the final adjustments to it. Then leave it on for 6 month so it can develop a "memory" for that alignment. Even my stock HT has warped to a very small degree when it hangs from my garage ceiling for 6 months. I just give it good shove and it falls into place.

[gacklez]

So say some rtard got his b bolt and special bolt in from majestic today and when he was removing the valve cover the bolt nearest the oil cap fell towards the transmission and never reached the ground. Where could it have gone? Lol my magnet isn't finding it.

[gacklez]

I had my wife drive it and brake pretty hard in the complex road and it never came out. It's not on the intake manifold. I'm scared it's stuck down on top of the transmission somewhere

[repiv]

I had my wife drive it and brake pretty hard in the complex road and it never came out. It's not on the intake manifold. I'm scared it's stuck down on top of the transmission somewhere
It's stuck on top of the tranny casing. This is where oil fill caps go when they get left sitting on the engine. You'll have to jack it up, crawl underneath with a straightened out coat hanger (and a hook on the end) and start "fishing". Try fishing from above from both sides first. You may luck out. Don't yank too hard. There's a lot of wiring bundles that run down there. There is very little clearance between the top of the tranny and the tunnel. If you've gone for a drive, you may have wedged it in even tighter. The engine and tranny are fluid and rubber mounted. When you drive the car, the tranny moves around.

[gacklez]

I pretty much gave up on it.. I might put it on the lift tomorrow and try to find it but for now I just went to the auto store and bought a 6mm bolt about the same length and stuck it on the washer/gasket deal.

I have one question about under the valve cover though.. The cylindrical pipe things the spark plugs go into-- mine have like little build up on them.. is that normal? like they aren't smooth like everything else seems in that area. The gears and other stuff under there seems well oiled and "pretty" but those things have like little spots of gunk on them or something.

[repiv]

I have one question about under the valve cover though.. The cylindrical pipe things the spark plugs go into-- mine have like little build up on them.. is that normal? like they aren't smooth like everything else seems in that area. The gears and other stuff under there seems well oiled and "pretty" but those things have like little spots of gunk on them or something.
This is pretty vague. Built up of "gunk"? What's "gunk"? Are you talking about the inside bore or the outside suface? Those tubes are made of a very thin material and most likely of a different composition and finish than everything else under the valve cover. They most likely adhere stuff to themselves to a different degree than other things under the cover. I wouldn't worry about it unless your "gunk" is sludge.

[gacklez]

It's just like.. hmm like a very coarse sand paper but only splotches of roughness. It's fairly smooth and then there will be a little bump or two of grease like stuff or something

[gacklez]

it's the outside-- the side where oil is-- the inside is clean as hell(where the spark plugs are)

[repiv]

I wouldn't worry about it but if you are, then post up a picture.