200 miles later......
06-21-2008, 05:46 PM
#1
200 miles later...... Well my Passengers side head gasket swap went well. The car fired right up afterwards, and in the past week I have driven it probably around 200 miles without a problem. The temp never got above 185 or so, until today. I pulled into my driveway after work, and noticed that the temp gauge was creeping up towards the halfway mark. So i wait a few hours, let the car cool down and then start it up again. Upon startup i notice a little bit of white smoke from the tailpipes, and im assuming that this is coolant since it never smoked before. The temp gauge never got above the halfway mark (and i only let it be there for a few seconds), so the car never overheated.
Now, I'm hoping i just need to retourqe the heads and i'll be okay. The car was never overheated and i didn't have a problem for 200 miles. Any thoughts/suggestions? Should i back all of the bolts off and then retorque them again? I have felpro bolts
Now, I'm hoping i just need to retourqe the heads and i'll be okay. The car was never overheated and i didn't have a problem for 200 miles. Any thoughts/suggestions? Should i back all of the bolts off and then retorque them again? I have felpro bolts
06-21-2008, 05:54 PM
#2
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If you torqued them down the correct way the first time, you shouldn't have to re-do them at all. Hell, you didn't even really need to buy new head bolts either.
And why the heck didn't you do the driver side while you had everything off???? Seems silly to me :\
And why the heck didn't you do the driver side while you had everything off???? Seems silly to me :\
06-21-2008, 08:53 PM
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There's no harm in reusing SBC head bolts. Buddy has done it countless times with zero problems ever. I just did a top end refresh on a 350 and reused the bolts as well and hasn't shown any problems. Now Imports and other smaller engines, they for some reason stretch more and DO blow gaskets if you don't replace them.
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06-21-2008, 09:19 PM
#9
There's no harm in reusing SBC head bolts. Buddy has done it countless times with zero problems ever. I just did a top end refresh on a 350 and reused the bolts as well and hasn't shown any problems. Now Imports and other smaller engines, they for some reason stretch more and DO blow gaskets if you don't replace them.
Never reuse torque-to-yield head bolts. They are designed to be used only once and are not meant to be re-torqued. Trust me, head bolts are cheap. For the record, I learned this lesson the hard way. I actually broke a bolt off in the block!
06-21-2008, 09:34 PM
#10
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06-21-2008, 09:42 PM
#11
You're lucky to have gotten away with it.
Given that a set of ARP head bolts costs all of $20, it's cheap insurance.
06-21-2008, 10:25 PM
#12
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Well, $20 is too much when you're making a motor that all you're going to do is beat the living hell out of LOL Heck, the one motor we used was a seized 305 from a Blazer, some marvels mystery oil (trans fluid works well also) in the cylinders for a few days, and turned right over. We even said screw it with honing it
Stuck in a 327 cam and away we went. That was our most redneck motor, but held strong and went like a raped date.
Stuck in a 327 cam and away we went. That was our most redneck motor, but held strong and went like a raped date.
06-21-2008, 10:45 PM
#13
Well, $20 is too much when you're making a motor that all you're going to do is beat the living hell out of LOL Heck, the one motor we used was a seized 305 from a Blazer, some marvels mystery oil (trans fluid works well also) in the cylinders for a few days, and turned right over. We even said screw it with honing it Stuck in a 327 cam and away we went. That was our most redneck motor, but held strong and went like a raped date.
Stuck in a 327 cam and away we went. That was our most redneck motor, but held strong and went like a raped date.Sorry, I didn't realize that you were such an engine building guru when I posted.....LOL! FWIW, the older motors did not have TTY bolts, so they were OK to reuse.
Daren
06-21-2008, 10:49 PM
#14
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Well, none of these are newer than GENII (none have yet to be newer than GENI actually). I assumed by TTY, you meant that them having a torque spec equaled TTY. I guru I am not heh Been around quite a few builds, I have. Fully fresh builds though, one heh
06-21-2008, 11:32 PM
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I'm a smurt kookie remember?
I gathered that from this bit
EDIT: From my quick reading, a GENII motor won't be utilizing TTY bolts, simply because it utilizes the GEN0-I head bolt count. Not that it couldn't use them, but I would assume that if GM was going to, they'd have redesigned the motor more than they did, much like the GENIII.
I gathered that from this bit
EDIT: From my quick reading, a GENII motor won't be utilizing TTY bolts, simply because it utilizes the GEN0-I head bolt count. Not that it couldn't use them, but I would assume that if GM was going to, they'd have redesigned the motor more than they did, much like the GENIII.
Last edited by Formula350; 06-21-2008 at 11:39 PM.
06-22-2008, 07:28 AM
#17
my dad is no engine guru, but he says this is normal. He says you should have to retorque after a few heat cycles. I retorqued everything last night, and quite a few of the bolts were significantly under the specified torque. I am going to start it up today after work.
My oil is fine, a nice golden brown. My coolant is fine as well.
My oil is fine, a nice golden brown. My coolant is fine as well.
06-22-2008, 08:54 AM
#18
OK, I have done some digging. I checked the head bolts on my cores and found two different head bolt types. I have one 1994 core. It's head bolts appear to be the same as the old Gen I motors. All of the 1995-up motors that I have use the later (softer) head bolts. Again, if you have the head bolts with silver bottom bolts (1/2" heads), I would not reuse them. They are junk after one use.
