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Suitable use for Loctite?

wkilleffer

Jedi Knight
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Hi Everyone,

I've been doing alot of carb and exhaust work on my 74 MGB. The biggest part about it was changing the manifold gasket. Everything's back together and set up, so I decided to sync the carbs.

Everything seemed like it was fine in my garage, but once I got it out on the road, nothing seemed right. The idle speed was all over the place. I got back, and out of curiosity, put a wrench to one of the nuts that holds the rear SU carb in place. I was surprised that it turned at least 1.5 turns. The idle speed dropped as well. The other nut on that carb was slightly loose, and the ones up front were fine.

This might explain alot of the trouble I've had in the past with keeping the carbs in order, but I swear that I put everything together properly. Could vibrations from the engine cause the nuts to work loose? If so, would it be ok to use the Loctite that allows removal with tools on those nuts?

Neither of them have had any lock washers nor anything like that since I've owned the car. Rebalancing the carbs seems to have helped, but the car was a bit sputtery on the commute in approx 35 degree weather this morning.

Thank you,
-Bill
 
Lock washers on all four nuts that hold the carbs on please.

Nothing on the header studs.

Yep is reasonable to have to retighten things after running a bit. In fact when I bought a Ford new overseas they wanted it back in 3500 miles to retighten everything and did so.

It is my thought that the temps, heating and cooling a few times and the vibration cause things to seat or shake in a bit.
 
My SUs have internal tooth lock washers on each nut to keep them secure to the manifold. These are thinner and do a little less damage to the die casting than normal split lock washers.

Edited for spelling.
 
You could consider "Nyloc" nuts as well. Tho there should've been thin split washers under 'em all.
 
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