why do some say be careful not to get coolant into the head bolt holes? and is new head bolts a must? any other tips on reassembly?

 

Doesn't matter for most of the head bolt holes sense they are tapped into the water jackets, but there are a few that are enclosed. If you get liquid in them it will compress the air at a greater rate when torquing down the head which will give you an inaccurate torque reading and the bolt will end up being too loose.
If you are typing about stock head bolts then YES you have to use new ones. The stock head bolts are torque to yield meaning the threads stretch when torqued to spec. If reused the threads are still stretched and are weaker than when new and will not give an accurate torque reading.
Get ARP head bolts instead. They can be reused and are cheaper than the stockers.

 

Another vote for ARP head bolts. Also read the instructions carefully how to properly torque them down, especially regarding lubing. Also make sure you apply sealant to the threads due to the possibility of the bolt threading into a water jacket.

 

I don't care if even ARP bolts were reusable. If it is something as critically important as head bolts, I'd be putting new ones on everytime I pulled a set of heads off. If you're talking engine or rear-end fasteners, don't skimp out. They're just pocketchange when compared to the damage that it COULD cause if you decided to "go cheap"...

 

I am going to be putting my heads on this weekend and will be using ARP bolts and ARP thread sealer. How would you go about using the lube and sealer both? I looked at the ARP web-site, but its under construction and i couldn't find this info in the PDF catalog.

Thanks

 

LOL

 

Put the sealer on the threads. Do not use sealer on the bolts that will go into enclsed bolt holes. It can do the same thing as if there was water in the bolt holes. Use the lube on the bottom side of the head of the bolt (contacts the washer and washer to head).

 

What?

 

...

 

Yeah, I figured that's what you were referring to. What's the problem?

 

Venders must love you for the promotion of making unecessary purchases.

 

Riiiiight. Anyways, I've only removed/installed my heads ONCE in the 7 years I've owned it, and the engine will only see one more set of heads, when I put the finishing touches on my motor. ARP head bolts cost what, $50? Pretty wise investment (whether unnecessary or not) considering the cost of those freshly ported heads you may have just thrown on there. Whatever though. I can't expect you to fathom anything beyond elementary level logic, seeing how you've made a career out of "Would you like fries with that?"

 

Are you the spokes person for all on the frequency of cylinder head swaps and installs? Why not back some of the above up with reason other than your doom and gloom opinions? What "critical damage" can be done if reusing ARP cylinder head bolts?

 

I reused stock head bolts and had no problems.

However, this is not a good idea as I later found out. Nothing went wrong, it's just that you shouldn't reuse TTY bolts since they stretched the first time they were installed, stretching them again by reuse is obviously not a good thing.

I wouldn't have any problems reusing ARP's once though.

 

Exactly. The threads on ARP bolts are far stronger than the threads in an iron block.