Re-torqued head bolts

[johnnyRacer]

After blowing my head gasket about two months after I installed it with another head on my 100k short block I decided to just have another motor built. But, last week I tried re-torquing the head bolts just to see what would happen. First, let me share some of my symptoms: loss of coolant, poor idle quality, oil dip stick would blow up off its seal and spay oil, and of course the occasional white smoke from the tail pipe. After I re-torqued the head bolts all of these symptoms went away for the most part. As a matter of fact, I can smell the burnt oil that's cause by my worn 14b again. The torque spec is 68-72 ft/lbs in (3) stages of course in the correct sequence. (3) of the (5) front and (1) of the (5) rear bolts were around 60 ft/lbs. I re-torqued everything to 80 ft/lbs and the engine ran 90% better. I know now that after putting on a new hd gasket I should've went back and re-torqued those hd bolts to make sure they didn't loosen before I went
racing /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif.

 

[johnnyRacer]

Last night I ran a compression test.

dry: 1)145 2)140 3)140 4)145

wet: 1)150 2)150 3)160 4)155

Do you guys think this motor can survive this summer of street and weekend track abuse until my other motor is done.

mods:
3" exhaust no cat (turbo to N1 muffler)
680cc's
3g mas
stag 3 chip

I plan on adding:
255 pump (rewired)
act 2600 street clutch
some kind of aftermarket intercooler

 

[OldHairyBastard]

Those numbers are not too bad. Drive her around a while and see how she runs. It looks like you can bring her to the meet this Saturday now. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/applause.gif

 

[Dan D]

I wish my motors compression numbers were that good. They've been worse than that for 4 or 5 years with similar mods. I beat the snot out of it every time I drive it and it hasn't kicked off yet. I say if there's no water in the oil or vice versa, you're fine as long as you don't abuse it (maintenance, warm up time, ect.)

135,130,140,142 (I think last time I checked)

 

Thats not bad for a 100k mile motor.
You should be fine.

My motor has compression over 200 in all cylinders. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Rausch]

Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Those numbers are not too bad.

thats really not bad at all. how much oil you put in each cylinder can affect those #'s a bit. but only moving up a few PSI is pretty much normal for anything, let alone one with that many miles on it...as a point we used to (and still do) use exactly one cap full of oil (remove the little ring that seals it, and fill to the top thread)for each cylinder to ensure that there is enough and keep the readings consistent across the board. it's a touch more that the old school recommendation, but it has yet to fail me.

 

[s_firestone]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Would that cap-full be a "Mickey's Big Mouth" cap full(Like on Mobil 1) or the little cap found on a quart of 7-11 recycled 40W french fry oil?

 

[slugsgomoo]

for what it's worth, doesn't the FSM say that you're supposed to put the head on, torque it, get the car to operating temp, let it cool down, and torque again? I've always done that since it makes sense, seeing as how aluminum expands a bit when heated. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

 

Do you do that to a brand new car?

 

[Rausch]

Quote:
Would that cap-full be a "Mickey's Big Mouth" cap full(Like on Mobil 1) or the little cap found on a quart of 7-11 recycled 40W french fry oil?

that would be the little cap , dick. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif(i used to keep one n the tool box, usually a soda cap that i washed out)

 

[johnnyRacer]

Quote:
for what it's worth, doesn't the FSM say that you're supposed to put the head on, torque it, get the car to operating temp, let it cool down, and torque again? I've always done that since it makes sense, seeing as how aluminum expands a bit when heated. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif



Yeah, I realize that now. It was a BONEHEAD mistake.

 

[johnnyRacer]

I'll definately try and make it there, Doug.