msavel01ss

First off this torque angle thing is a major PITA!

I think I'm pulling the threads out of the block on one of the rear head bolts (#10 I think). I torqued it down to 22 lb-ft like all the others but when it came time to rotate it 90 degress it felt no where near as tight as the others? Then the last 50 degree was about the same. I cleaned the threads out and have a small amount of lube on the bottom of the bolt, so what went wrong or is this OK?

I'm still on the first head and will still try installing the other in the morning, but can someone pleae give me some feedback on what they think I should do!!!!!!

I already tried a new bolt as there were 5 in the bag and I only need 4. That produced the same sloppy feeling.

jmX

Hrm, grab a torque wrench and keep dialing it up until it doesnt click when you try to tighten that bolt (but dont turn the bolt)...that way you can see what the torque reading is on it. If its 50+ you're probably ok. Normally each bolt is a little different feeling, especially the back and front shorter ones, but it should still be pretty tight. Check the torque just for kicks and hopefully that'll let you know if you should worry about it.

Also, when you took the first new short bolt out (since you said you had an extra short headbolt and tried a new one), was it wet?

msavel01ss

The bolt was a little wet, which I guess now that I think about it more would make it easier to turn.

The torque on the rest of the bolts seems to be around 65-75 lb-ft or so. I'll have to go back to the garage and see what that bolt is exactly.

Thanks for the reply! And by the way, I'm using your write-up.

jmX

Glad the writeup is helping! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" />

Also, that back short headbolt hole is notorious for being oily. The extra oil may be why its a bit easier to turn. The other 9 bolts generally dont have motoroil in them.

msavel01ss

Well I have good news and not so good news.

The good news is the torque on all the other bolts ranges from 55-65 lb-ft. That back bolt is at 23! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="gr_sad.gif" /> The first bolt I took out has no oil on it and no thread shavings, actually looks pretty good. So do I just leave it and call it good or try to put a couple more turns on it?

jmX

23?! erm, no, dont leave it at that, something is not right.

Take the bolt out, and see if its wet again. You may be compressing liquid in there instead of actually clamping the head down and thats whats giving you the 20 something reading. Does it feel springy when you turn the bolt? Since you havent stretched the bolt yet you can reuse it, so just remove it and clean the hole more (you can do that with the heads on). Is the underside of the head of the bolt definitly touching the cylinder head? DONT tighten the bolt anymore until you figure out whats going on.

msavel01ss

I'll take it out tomorrow morning and take a good hard look at things. Especially to the oil or coolant that may be on it. The other thing that crossed my mind was if the small shoulder on the bolt maybe wasn't seated down the the head on the first torquing. Too late now to work on it, plus I need a break. I'll let you know tomorrow what I see.

Thanks for all the help.....

msavel01ss

Turns out there was some crap in the hole! I used a longer M-11 bolt and ran it up and down the hole a couple more times (after grinding a 'v' on the first couple threads. Plus you could see the bottom of the bolt head was not contacting the block. Hard to tell without removing the bolt but after I did it was quite obvious, no scratches. So all is good and I'm almost done. Now if my rockers would get here....

Thanks for the help.....

jmX

I figured it was something simple like that. Good luck with the rest of the install. <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/gr_cheers.gif" />