Inch pound torque wrench,what the H - - L ?

[63t-cab]

I was looking at a torque wrench today.I'm gonna need to torque down the valve cover on a 2001 saturn at 89 in. lbs.well the wrench only goes down to 120 in. lbs "so now what" . someone told Me to just torque to 7 ft. lbs and be done with it,also heard that could lead to a disaster thanks for any help for a dummy.

[37CoupeE]

120 in lbs. equals 10 ft. lbs.
I have a Snap-on 3/8 drive inch pound torque wrench that goes to zero.

You will have to get a 3/8 drive inch pound torque wrench to really get the proper torque value.
If you use a 1/2 drive torque wrench they are normally all in ft. lbs. with very high top values.
Therefore 89 in. lbs or 7 ft. lbs. is way on the bottom side of the torque range.
Reading at the extreme ends of a Torque wrench can be sometimes off depending on the manufacturer and how often they are checked for accuracy.
It all depends on how critical the torque has to be.

[JimC]

Yup, 12 inch pounds is the same as 1 foot pound, so 7 ft. Lbs. would be pretty close.

Truly, this is a valve cover, so I doubt you'll wreck anything if it's not perfect. I helped a buddy of mine do some work on his engine a few years ago, and I think the valve covers were tightened to approximately "that feels just about right". He never had any problems.

[BobWaitz]

I do a lot of bicycle work. My 3/8 torque wrench is all in inch-lbs and newton-meters. It does cause me to scramble for a calculator when I need to figure out what 380 inch-lbs is in foot-lbs, for example.

I'd go with 7 foot-lbs which is 84 inch-lbs. A valve cover it will leak if you don't tighten it down enough. It will also leak if you tighten it down too much. The difference is that you can fix the former by tightening it more. You can't fix the latter by tightening it less.

[63t-cab]

Bob, ya that's what I'm thinking.if I could find the right wrench for $20.00 ok,but I'm not gonna pay $69.00 at Sears for one that will allow Me to arrive at 89 in. lbs

I do a lot of bicycle work. My 3/8 torque wrench is all in inch-lbs and newton-meters. It does cause me to scramble for a calculator when I need to figure out what 380 inch-lbs is in foot-lbs, for example.

I'd go with 7 foot-lbs which is 84 inch-lbs. A valve cover it will leak if you don't tighten it down enough. It will also leak if you tighten it down too much. The difference is that you can fix the former by tightening it more. You can't fix the latter by tightening it less.