That time I tried a vintage torque wrench on a head gasket job

Picked up an old Snap-on clicker at a garage sale for $10, figured I'd give it a shot on my buddy's 350 Chevy. Thing was way off, ended up overtorquing three bolts before I caught it. Lesson learned, has anyone else had a classic tool let them down like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

jesse_nguyen22d ago

Messing around with old torque wrenches is a gamble for sure. My buddy had one from the 70s that looked cool but we tested it against my cheap beam-style and it was off by like 15 foot-pounds. Best thing I did was just buy a new digital one and keep the vintage one as a wall hanger. If you really want to use an old clicker you can usually get them recalibrated but it costs almost as much as a new one. For head gaskets especially I wouldn't trust anything that hasn't been checked in the last year. Maybe just keep that one for non-critical stuff like valve covers or something light.

mark_cooper22d ago

Actually @jesse_nguyen, beam-style wrenches are usually more accurate than clickers over time since they don't have springs that wear out, so your cheap one was probably right on. For head gaskets though you're totally right, never trust a vintage tool for that kind of job.