head gasket and bolts question

[costas14]

Do the camshafts have to come off the head to get to the headbolts or can i get them without removing the camshafts?

 

[jjgrizz73]

They do not need to be removed

 

[fwdmaster]

You can leave the camshafts on to take out the head bolts

 

[turboglenn]

thanks god...tht wold be a major PITA to remove and isntall the cams everythime you wold have to R&R the head

 

[costas14]

meh we never do any r&r on the head when we remove the cams, im gonna be doing this job again when i get my slowboy head in, so hopefully i ge this done in 6 hours

 

[Slippi84]

Only on the 420a's do you have to do that. Extreme pain in th eass. I had arp head studs on mine and just to retorque them you had to redo the the timing and lean the cams a lot unless you just wanted to take them out all together.

 

[costas14]

what should i put on the bolts before installing them?

 

[v8s_are_slow]

Hope you're not reusing the stock bolts. Throw those suckers in the garbage if you take them out. Get some new ones or ARP's.

 

[costas14]

i got new ones that are felpro....i will get arps for my slowboy head, but the only reason i did the hg was i would overheat when i boost all since air would get in my coolant and the resoivoir would shake like crazy, even if i went on the highway and went like 65 it would do it, so now i drove home 10 miles and i was flying all the way home, 80-100 keeping it at full boost which on my is 15psi. then my uncle called and told me i should go slow with it and break it in?

 

[v8s_are_slow]

Break-in what? The hg? There's no break-in for that. Slap it on and go. It seals or it doesn't. Just make sure you torque it like the book says. Have to do it in steps cause the bolts have to stretch.

 

[slowgsr]

thanks god...tht wold be a major PITA to remove and isntall the cams everythime you wold have to R&R the head

be glad you dont have a B series honda, lots of motors you have to pull the cams to get to the head bolts.

 

[costas14]

yea our tech does it on toyotas a lot and stuff, he never r&r the heads though, i torqued the bolts from the center to the out and i did 40 torque first then 60 then i waited a half hour and got snacks and checked email and then did them to 80 with the snap on torque wrench, should i check the bolts again tomorrow?

 

[Turbo Talon DL]

Did you have your block decked/honed with a torque plate and the ARP clamping load? Suparata built my engine and told me you MUST ABSOLUTELY machine the block for either ARP bolt/studs or stock bolts using a torque plate and the simulated clamping load. When you untorque and torque the bolts/studs the cylinder walls distort. The torque plate and clamping load distorts the cylinder walls and when you bore/hone them they are straight/true with the load applied. There is a thread on here with links that preach about the use of a torque plate.

 

[v8s_are_slow]

yea our tech does it on toyotas a lot and stuff, he never r&r the heads though, i torqued the bolts from the center to the out and i did 40 torque first then 60 then i waited a half hour and got snacks and checked email and then did them to 80 with the snap on torque wrench, should i check the bolts again tomorrow?

I believe you should have to loosen them all back up and redo the process again. Once you retorque, that should be it. Check the manual or specs though. It's been awhile, and last time I did anything with stock bolts was doing a head job on a Mustang.

 

[costas14]

Did you have your block decked/honed with a torque plate and the ARP clamping load? Suparata built my engine and told me you MUST ABSOLUTELY machine the block for either ARP bolt/studs or stock bolts using a torque plate and the simulated clamping load. When you untorque and torque the bolts/studs the cylinder walls distort. The torque plate and clamping load distorts the cylinder walls and when you bore/hone them they are straight/true with the load applied. There is a thread on here with links that preach about the use of a torque plate.

 

[costas14]

ill do it tomorrow or ill ask the tech in the morning, i just took the head off cleaned the head and block off with that air tool and slapped it back together, my uncle might hit me if i tell him all that stuff turbo talon said, hes very old school(62 years old) for the sbr head i will use other methods to clean the block and make it straight if its not

bore out the head bolt holes?

 

[v8s_are_slow]

Did you have your block decked/honed with a torque plate and the ARP clamping load? Suparata built my engine and told me you MUST ABSOLUTELY machine the block for either ARP bolt/studs or stock bolts using a torque plate and the simulated clamping load. When you untorque and torque the bolts/studs the cylinder walls distort. The torque plate and clamping load distorts the cylinder walls and when you bore/hone them they are straight/true with the load applied. There is a thread on here with links that preach about the use of a torque plate.

When he says decked, he means cutting off a very thin amount on the top of the block to make sure it's straight and flat, and clean, which is always good for headgaskets. Honing is done when building a bottom end but you're not doing that so don't worry about it or the torque plate. Also, did you have the head checked to make sure it's straight? Good to do if you're overheating or anything you do a headgasket job.

 

[costas14]

eh nope i just went in to the shop today, took the head off cleaned the block and head and put it back together, i put a piece of glass to see if the head was straight and block but nothing like taking it to a machine shop or anything and stuff just a quick gasket change

 

[v8s_are_slow]

Hope you're using a composite gasket and not a metal one then. The composite gaskets can sometimes be forgiving. But can't say you won't have problems. Sitting on some glass and visually inspecting it isn't the way you check for straightness. It needs to be taken to a machine shop and checked out. Well, good luck and hope it doesn't leak on ya though....cause I don't see the head getting pulled off to be checked out. If it's already on there, may as well drive it and hope for the best but if it's a metal gasket, start praying.

 

[costas14]

the gasket i pulled off was a felpro one, and when i boosted air was getting in the coolant and the temp would fly right up, the bolts i pulled off where stock ones so they never where changed, i put some gasket i bought off another dsm owner which it seems to be just a cheap 70 dollar set, i also bought another felpro to compare the two and the felpro one looked like junk compared to the one i put on, my resovoir after say a driving down the street and hitting 5 pounds of boost would be shaking like crazy and bubbling, i drove it home nailing the gas and keeping it at 10-15 psi of boost and i popped the hood when i got home and the resoivoir was nice and calm not bubbling over or wanting to explode