re-torquing headbolts

[TurboTA3.8]

boy after re-torquing my headbolts which i never did before i will always do it i torqued them to 85fpt with my head studs and heated the motor up this morning and let it cool off all day and went back to it tonight to re torque i was inpressed i got 1/8-1/4 turn on most and one i almost got 1/2 turn so if they loosen up after a heat cycle like this ill do it every time but lets see how it holds up 30 psi boost here i come

george

 

[trading t/a]

Some say not to do it, but loctite works wonders once it dries. Crank em down and heat cycle it, then retighten them, boost cycle it, then retighten them.

 

[TurboTA3.8]

i dont think i could go threw another retorque it sucks on this car with the custom headers and valves to adjust ill just stick with the heat cycle retorque maybe if i do the downpipe over ill retorque them the for now i just want to race it

george

 

[trading t/a]

I've also noticed that it's usually the upper head bolts that are the problem. I changed mine twice on my car and for ****s and giggles decided to crank the bolts down to see if they loosened a bit and the lower bolts were very very minimal when I did mine as compared to the uppers. Although very different from your monster I believe that the stock heads tends to lift more at the top of the cylinder due to less meat/weight in the area(specifically #3/#6). Also the block has a scallop right there where it could be a possible entrance for exhaust gasses to seep under the gasket and lift it.

I wonder if anyone has thought about using mallory metal impregnated into the cylinder head deck around the #3 and #6 posistions to give some extra weight(mallory is supposed to be twice as dense as comparible iron/steel). If enough mallory was added to these areas and managed to keep it in there during the intense heat cycling it may give a little extra weight to help the clamping force.

George, does the beast ever make it up to Nanuet to run? Looking forward to checking out the scene up there when mine gets back! Pete tells me there are some pretty intense cars running around!


Pete