Head bolt torque... the dirty limits

O

onefour

dinosaur power
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
Messages
47
So im forced to do my head gasket the cheap way. Which means no o-rings and no studs.

My plan is a 20 over gasket, and possibly new bolts, if the current ones dont pass...

I would like to know what lube to torque the bolts with... arp lube, motor oil, moly grease?

Im planning on pulling it down to the factory specs, doing a heat cycle, then checking all the torques, and torquing up in 5 ft/lb increments until the bolts feel funny, and repeating a couple more times.

Any other tips to keep the head down on stock stuff?

50 pounds of boost and lots of timing...
 
Sounded alright until the once it feels like its stretching i'll just go a few more part.

new bolts are cheap
 
I ran 50psi and timing with stock head gasket and bolts. just use motor oil and I want 10lbs over stock should be good to go.
 
If you're willing to push it, start at c.105 lb-ft, mark the bolts, and then tighten them by 5 or 10 lb-ft till you get to 150 lb-ft. If any of the bolts have turned way past the others, replace them. The center bolts will turn the most cause they're the longest, they'll turn maybe 1/8th of a turn past the others.
 
Right on thanks guys...

Why no 20 over gasket? Any reason in particular?

Anybody got a part number for a head bolt set?
 
IMO The .20 HG is not needed for a non o ringed head or block. One of the urban legend's that have not been proven, just taken for gospel. To reduce CR, yes.
 
Just spend the money on studs and be done with it. VERY cheap insurance. New bolts aren't cheap enough to fool with when you can find even a set of used studs that will be better than the bolts. Not worth much, but that's my $.02.
 
Your going to spend just under $70 for new bolts from Cummins. I put the .020 in mine when I did it but like rifle said it isn't needed and I used regular motor oil for the lube. If you can afford it get a set of studs I wish I would have.
 
Agree with the others if studs aren't in the budget go with a new set of head bolts. You can get it and the headgasket drop shipped from Jeff (username Snedge) on here cheaper than going to your local Cummins most times.

I use head bolts with the Garmon method on my puller and its worked great for me so far.

1 Smear high temp grease on the threads of the bolts
2 install and TQ down at 50, 75, & then 100 ft lbs.
3 Give 30 minutes to cool then go up 5 ft/lbs every 30 minutes up to 150 ft/lbs.

Holds my 60PSI non-gated charger and all my fuel in my 97 without problems! :D
 
Cool, thats kind of what I did, but i dont think i left enough time for the bolts to cool down... Didnt really think of that part. I did have a few rests tho, cause torquin them son *****es down 5 lbs at a time from 100 lbs up sitting under the hood gets nasty...

Im dealing with an uneven sounding rev now, sounds like a weak hole... Dont know if its fuel or compression, but thats a whole nother issue...

Thanks everybody for the head gasket tips/tricks...
 
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