Torque Wrench

[wowens]

I have a Snap on with a dialgauge my dad bought in 59, when he rebuilt his first engine.
(a 60 hp Ford Flathead) Still accurate last time i checked

Me too. Bought mine in 64, turn the dial to zero and good to go.

[66FAIRLANE]

Where I work bought a digital torque meter to test torque wrenches, so naturally I bought all mine in from home . Much to everyone's surprise and mine, the most accurate from any tested was mine that looked exactly like the picture you posted Skeeter65! Those type also have the advantage of being able to see breakaway torque both tightening and loosening and also if you are tightening a bolt with that style and you are still moving and the torque is not increasing you have exceeded yield, throw the bolt away.

[Falcon67]

I'll add that the only thing I use instead of a torque wrench is a rod bolt stretch gauge.  After using one, you'll never want to be without one.  You go back to the torque wrench after you figure out what setting is required to get the stretch specified.  For all other fasteners, I've always followed the mfgs specifications (typically ARP)  for lube, torque steps and final torque.  I've been fortunate to have done several engine builds, most for racing, and have never had a rotating assembly failure traceable to a fastener.

[durkzz8]

I work in metrology and currently have four torque wrenches sitting in front of me, Two Snap-on, a Proto and a Mac. We use extremely tight tolerances and rarely have a failure on those three that can't be adjusted to be in spec. The HF and newer Craftsmans I have seen are another story. They lose their specs pretty rapidly and even new out of the box the specs can be pretty loose. Also I have seen a HF move almost 10 foot-pounds from the setting by it being dropped. Older craftsman are far better than the newer ones if one can be found. If I were building an engine that I cared about staying together I would definitely pay the money for a quality tool. I have been using my personal Snap-on for probably 15 years now and it has never checked out of spec.