Torque and Chrome

How do I keep breaking bolts?

I'm trying to put the throttle body back on my '88 Firebird. I already broke one of the original bolts when I tried to torque them down to 90 ft/lbs, like it says in the shop manual. Today I bought new bolts and tried to torque them to 45 ft/lbs when one of them snapped. How is this possible? I just torqued the valve cover bolts (which are smaller) to 75, no problems there. Will tightening the bolts w/o a torque wrench be good enough for the throttle body?

Public Comments

1. Well, you may have misread te torque specs? Go back and make sure that the specs don't say 90 inch pounds, inch pounds and foot pounds are a huge difference. My experience, the throttle body should only be tightened snug, and then only a couple turns after that. I use a 1/4 inch air ratchet and just zip em in with that, then one turn after. 90 ft./lbs is what you torque your lug nuts to.
2. I've never paid attention to those torque recommendations. I just tighten everything to what feels right. That's good enough. It's not like they're gonna loosen up in this lifetime. Go to a mechanic, and I seriously doubt they pay attention to the torque either. They just zip it on with an air ratchet and move on to the next job.
3. Whoa! 90 ft/lbs! No way! I'll tell you why you keep breaking bolts. Cuz you're torque- ing the life out of them!!!! Firebird Nation gets their info from Haynes. I gave you the web site. They suggest 18 ft/lbs. 18!!!! You dont even put 90 on main bearing caps!! You need to toss that manual or re-read it!
4. INCH POUNDS NOT FOOT POUNDS!!!!
5. there is no way it is 90 foot lbs. if it says that its a misprint. 90 inch lbs maybe?