The car is going to Speed Inc this Sat. While the valve covers are off (Comp R lifters, need I say more) and the shorty's are being swapped out for a set of LT's, should I have them check the head bolts? The motor has about 125 miles on it since the H/C swap and if it's not a "bad idea" I'd like to have them go over the head bolts one more time. What do you guys think? TIA

 

i wouldnt do it ...id be concerned with them breaking the thread sealant when they retorque
but thats just me

 

I would,Aluminum likes to expand when its hot and it does tend to loosen bolts...
And why do you need thread sealant on head bolts?I have never had a problem with any LT1 I have built...396 383 355's none have ever came loose on me...

 

Sounds like you're thinking thread lock vice thread seal. Any head bolt that's exposed to coolant should be installed using thread seal. Basic engine building 101...
Example: http://web.camaross.com/forums/showt...36#post2639136

 

hmm well I just put together 4 lt1's in the last month 1 396 2 383's and one stock rebuild and none leak...Maybe I have a secret no one else does.

 

Either way, it is still not the right way to not use thread sealant. You may have gotten lucky these past times, but once you have one fully buttoned up to find out that you have a leaky head bolt, you will understand why the 5 minutes extra that it takes to spread the sealent around the threads is more then worth the time.

-James

 

^^^^^^^^^^ what he said

 

Umm i have over 20 LT1's built and running around on the streets right now none complaining of coolant leaks...Im not a rookie,i know some things.But if guys use sealant thats cool too,either way it works.

 

to each their own ...not knocking your building...but i use it to be safe....last thing i want is to pull heads a second time because im getting coolant leaking through a head bolt....some people have luck witout using sealant some dont...i like the extra step to try and avoiding doing it again....

 

It is OK to re-torque bolts, the problem is that you will need to get them tighter and they will not last a long. The idea behind torquing a bolt is to strech it so it holds pressure. When you reuse a bolt that has all ready been trqed, you don't get the correct reading. You will just need to trq them a little tighter.

I wouldn't worry about it unless you have oil coming out you head bolts or something is wrong with them. You should talk to Speed Inc about it.

 

Ekkk..Some of the LT1's head bolts run directly into water jackets so they do need thread sealant..Atleast their not leaking though!

Cody

 

Do you want to sit there and tell me that you don't have to use thread sealant?

I've got 10 leaking head studs, they've got sealant on them...but they still leak. I'd hate to see what happens if they had NO sealant. What are your comments about that?

 

http://www.arp-bolts.com/pages/produ...s/how_tos.html

http://www.arp-bolts.com/pages/produ.../technote.html

 

Well i wouldn't want you building my motors then. You need to have sealant on them. Yours are probably just leaking coolant in to the oil, no big deal.

I won't retorque them for fear of starting the head bolts to leak. I put "glue" sealant on mine and a few of them started leaking. I had to pull them to put RTV on them.

 

Yeah, RTV will work although an actual thread sealer is better. Most bolts I have dealt with come with sealer already on them.