Timing belt cover replacement

[98v70dad]

My '95 3.0L (100K miles) needs to have the timing belt cover gasket replaced since its leaking pretty bad at the typical spot. While I'm at it I'll be replacing the water pump and thermostat too. I'm concerned about breaking some of the studs/bolts on the timing belt cover since its been leaking for a while. I've looked for a set of replacement bolts/studs and can't find anything.

Does anyone know where I could pick up something like that?

My truck is old enough that Ford has apparently abandoned it (If they can be bought at a dealership the cost will be crazy high). They aren't typical fasteners and its an old truck so I figure they might be hard to impossible to find. Junkyard parts will probably have a corrosion issue too.

 

[pentode]

I did mine last year - I was able to find suitable replacements at a local fastener supply store. They were a relatively standard metric size, other then the length is a bit uncommon IIRC. In the end I didn't need them as my old bolts cleaned up pretty well- maybe you'll get lucky too. If you need the specs I can dig my spares out and check.

In my case, it seemed like the aluminum suffered more than the steel bolts, and whatever sealant the factory used did a halfway decent job of mitigating that galvanic corrosion.

 

[98v70dad]

I did mine last year - I was able to find suitable replacements at a local fastener supply store. They were a relatively standard metric size, other then the length is a bit uncommon IIRC. In the end I didn't need them as my old bolts cleaned up pretty well- maybe you'll get lucky too. If you need the specs I can dig my spares out and check.

In my case, it seemed like the aluminum suffered more than the steel bolts, and whatever sealant the factory used did a halfway decent job of mitigating that galvanic corrosion.

Thanks. I usually do all of my own work but I'm planning to pay someone to do this for me. I was hoping to provide the shop with all new bolts so I know that they get properly replaced. I can't find replacements if I don't have the original bolts to compare to. That's my problem.

 

[98v70dad]

Does anyone else have any info that might help with my problem?

 

[Racerxr5]

I just did the front cover gasket and replaced the water pump on my 1994 3.0 a week ago.

Are your missing all of the bolts ? There are bolts that just hold the cover to the block.
There are smaller diameter bolts that hold the water pump to the front cover and there are bolts that pass through the water pump and the front cover then screw into the block.. I was at pick and pull yesterday and they were chocked full of mid nineties Ford cars that have 3.0 engines. That’s your best option. Ill look and see if I took pictures

 

[Racerxr5]

You are way too concerned about the integrity of the front cover bolts. I know they can rust where the leak is and sometimes they get stuck and snap off when you try to remove them. That almost never happens and if it does it because there is pure water and no coolant. They will come out. When they do clean them on a wire wheel. Inspect them . When your reassembling put sealer on the threads and screw them back in.

 

[98v70dad]

Everyone has missed the fact that I'm paying someone else to do this and I want all the bolts replaced with new. Simple question is can I buy the bolts somewhere? If I could buy them they won't cost that much. I don't want to go digging around in a junkyard. I've done that plenty of times but I don't have time to screw around with this now. That's why I'm paying someone. I also don't want to let the garage source the bolts because I'll have to wait forever to get my truck back. It leaks so bad right now that its undriveable.

 

[pentode]

The bolts I sourced locally here (the only ones that go into the water jacket) were 13mm, 1.25mm pitch, 70mm long, grade 10.9 metric (I think the originals were grade 8 but I doubt that makes any difference at all here).
There are the smaller water pump bolts (8mm?) that will undoubtedly be fine and at least one super oddball bolt that's like an 8mm with a 17mm head- all those that weren't exposed to coolant are highly likely to be fine.

In my case, I very carefully sourced a half dozen of the 13mm bolts, then used none of them because the ones that came out cleaned up just fine.