joebeemish

I blew my header gaskets. I got some felpro gaskets which, so far, are great. They have alignment tabs that made it real easy to line up. I struggled getting out the original bolts and I went with stage 8 1" replacements. I wish I got 3/4" because I had to grind 3 of the bolts to 3/4" on the driver side so they could fit inside the curve of the hooker shortie pipes. Now all the bolts are in and a little more than finger tight. The book says the torque is 26 ft-lbs for these bolts. I can't get the 7/16 wrench on all the bolts. The stage 8 bolts have a 3/16" allen key center. Can I apply 26 ft-lbs to a 3/16" allen key? Any tips are appriciated. I am going to have to get a few different 3/16" allen keys and modify them to get at the difficult bolts here.

Also, should I torque the bolts and put the locks on right away? Do I need to re-torque even with the lock mechanisms? Or should I wait a week, re-torque and then put the locks on?

Thanks.

Bud M

There is no need to retorque Stage 8s. Get them reasonably tight and put on the clips and you'll be fine. I took an old wrench and did some grinding on it with my bench grinder to make it work better around the header pipes. That along with a socket and an allen socket (use 1/4" drive, its easier to get in there) were enough to get all bolts tight enough. I used anti sieze compound (like you use on spark plugs) on my Stage 8s. I didn't use a torque wrench, just get them good and snug, like as much as you can with a short wrench, and put on the clips.