reuse head bolts or not?
Registered User
Joined: Dec 1969
Posts: 27,725
From: Little Rock, AR
Re: reuse head bolts or not?
Originally Posted by limige
i've reused them many time on older engines, but those are cast iron with real torque settings. this stretch bolt thing is something else. i guess it's more precise for high hp app's but this is killing me.
because of financial issues i had decided to throw my motor together with stock internals 224/236 cam, p/p intake from squinn, and p/p heads done myself.
well the heads are alot of work, still not done, close but not done.
dished out $50 for rod bolts, tried to get one out and decided to have it done, that cost me $170, frigging rediculious. crank was fine, replaced cam bearings, mains and rods, busted a ring so i bought a new set, another $100, got raped on the cam bearings and they didn't even lube the journels, they began to rust! i had to pull it and clean off the rust. and i still have to get a valve job done after i cc the heads.
so i pulled the motor apart because it had 90k so i figured i'd freshen it up. well turns out it was just rebuilt before i bought it. only had 25k on it.
now a basic rebuild is costing me way too much, hell the motor was fine to begin with.
so yes, i do some some problems with dishing out $50 for a set of arp's but i'm not stupid, if they are tty then i'll replace them.
thanks for the replies.
mike
because of financial issues i had decided to throw my motor together with stock internals 224/236 cam, p/p intake from squinn, and p/p heads done myself.
well the heads are alot of work, still not done, close but not done.
dished out $50 for rod bolts, tried to get one out and decided to have it done, that cost me $170, frigging rediculious. crank was fine, replaced cam bearings, mains and rods, busted a ring so i bought a new set, another $100, got raped on the cam bearings and they didn't even lube the journels, they began to rust! i had to pull it and clean off the rust. and i still have to get a valve job done after i cc the heads.
so i pulled the motor apart because it had 90k so i figured i'd freshen it up. well turns out it was just rebuilt before i bought it. only had 25k on it.
now a basic rebuild is costing me way too much, hell the motor was fine to begin with.
so yes, i do some some problems with dishing out $50 for a set of arp's but i'm not stupid, if they are tty then i'll replace them.
thanks for the replies.
mike
Registered User
Joined: Jun 1999
Posts: 539
From: Minneapolis
Re: reuse head bolts or not?
Where do you get your info on not reusing flywheel bolts? I am on my 4th clutch and have reused those bolts every time. I am going to use them again after I put my new disc in. But I am going to put in all new bottom end bolts and some new ARP head bolts for my rebuild.
Z
Z
Last edited by ZMAN Z28; Jul 1, 2005 at 09:45 AM.
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 459
From: East Greenbush, NY
Re: reuse head bolts or not?
It has nothing to do with them unthreading. It's a matter of getting the correct "pull" from the bolt when you torque it. When you torque a bolt for the first time, it distorts it from stretching, throwing off the torque reading next time you torque it. Like shoebox said... whether it is a TTY bolt or not, EVER bolt stretches when it is torqued... that is what they are supposed to do. The reason you torque ANY bolt is to STRETCH it a pre determined amount. Theoretically, ALL bolts on an engine or suspension should be used one time, but realistically, it's not practical. It becomes practical when you get into items with really specific torque requirements, like heads. All this info = GET NEW HEAD BOLTS... otherwise, don't even bother to torque them. You wont have correct torque readings anyway, so why waste your time. I'm not saying to buy a $60 set of bolts, but even a cheap $30 set from a parts store wont be stretched before you install them.
Last edited by BLinindoll; Jul 1, 2005 at 10:45 AM.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 1,309
From: sebewaing, mi
Re: reuse head bolts or not?
bolts that are not tty will stretch but should spring back to their original length. if they don't you need to replace them. how do you think arp's are designed?? ever give a though why they say to measure them and keep on log on the stretch? same goes for most bolts.. if they are properly torqed they will return to their original length. tty bolts often do not always.
tell me, if you torque a head down, and have to pull the head again before you fire the motor do you go out and buy new bolts since those were already torqued once?
btw, i already said, i will be buying new head bolts. i just wanted to be sure they were needed. smart people on a budget try to spend the money were it's most needed without taking too big of risk.
tell me, if you torque a head down, and have to pull the head again before you fire the motor do you go out and buy new bolts since those were already torqued once?
btw, i already said, i will be buying new head bolts. i just wanted to be sure they were needed. smart people on a budget try to spend the money were it's most needed without taking too big of risk.
Registered User
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,152
From: Wyoming
Re: reuse head bolts or not?
Hey your doing the exact same thing that i did... i even broke a ring but reused a stocker lol. I reused the head bolts too. My engine is now blown up and a it leaked water out of the head when it was runnning. No my engine didn't blow up because of head gaskest, it either floated the valves or the stock piston let go and hit the exhaust valve(missing all together).
DONT SKIMP ON ANYTHING.
DONT SKIMP ON ANYTHING.
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 459
From: East Greenbush, NY
Re: reuse head bolts or not?
Originally Posted by limige
bolts that are not tty will stretch but should spring back to their original length. if they don't you need to replace them. how do you think arp's are designed?? ever give a though why they say to measure them and keep on log on the stretch? same goes for most bolts.. if they are properly torqed they will return to their original length. tty bolts often do not always.
tell me, if you torque a head down, and have to pull the head again before you fire the motor do you go out and buy new bolts since those were already torqued once?
btw, i already said, i will be buying new head bolts. i just wanted to be sure they were needed. smart people on a budget try to spend the money were it's most needed without taking too big of risk.
tell me, if you torque a head down, and have to pull the head again before you fire the motor do you go out and buy new bolts since those were already torqued once?
btw, i already said, i will be buying new head bolts. i just wanted to be sure they were needed. smart people on a budget try to spend the money were it's most needed without taking too big of risk.
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