Cleaning cylinder head

[packinkimber45]

Hello. I got my head cleaned and worked on by a machine shop locally. I noticed these allen type bolts that go into the head to block off galleys I think. My question is, should those have been taken out, re applied with some sealant and reinstalled? They dont look like they were taken out at all. Do I leave them alone? Looks like from the cleaning the outermost threads of the hole where the sealant was, some of it has gone away. Sorry for my ignorance but I dont know if I am suppose to take them out and apply sealant on them then reinstall. Thanks.

 

[TofastForU_99]

It is always a good idea to take those out when you are getting your head cleaned. It just makes hot tanking the head a little more effective and clean's the oil galleys. You do not need any kind of sealant for those just tighten them down. If you have the head apart still, it would not hurt to take the allen heads out and spray some brake clean through the galleys.

 

[packinkimber45]

I didnt think about that when I took it to the shop. I thought they would just do that. I've never really done all this before so there were some things I did not know. The head is already installed with the valves and springs in them already, so spraying with brake clean is not an option anymore. Now since those bolts were never loosened or anything should I still need to tighten them down? If so how much, I dont want to strip those threads. Thanks.

 

[TofastForU_99]

I would for sure check them to make sure there tight. I dont belive there are any sort of torque spece out there for them. I have been building heads for a few years and I have always just tightened them with a ratchet till they were tight. I have had no issues doing it this way.

 

[romeen]

If they're not leaking then I would just leave them alone. The thread sealant that's doing the actual sealing is on the threads that you can't see and is probably still there.

Before getting my head jet washed I removed all the plugs and used a gun cleaning rod/brush to loosen up any crud that might be there. I don't know if it made any difference but I felt better about it.