i just installed a new head gasket and studs today. i havent got her all together yet but i have a couple of questions about retorque the head studs. do i loosen and retorque or just pull down to spec agian? and when i have to do the studs under the rocker arms can i remove the rocker arms and reinstall with out check the valve lash agian? as long as the engine doesnt rotate the valve las should be the same when the rockers are reinstall and torqued correct?

 

loosen and retorque. recheck the valve lash again. takes but a few minutes.

 

torque the head once put back together let it get up to operating temp, shut off and let cool, then retorque them, break them loose and retorque each, one at a time and its even good to put some more ARP lube on the nut to get the most out of your retorque. put rockers back on and adjust the valves again as they WILL CHANGE after a retorque cause you taking the head down closer to the block and altering the height.

Thanks Brett

 

yeah i know to start it up and let it get to temp and then retorque just didnt know if i had loosen or not

ok now i understand why i readjust them thanks for the input guys

 

Just make sure the studs don't bottom out in the holes during the re torque procedure

 

Yeah it's sometimes hard to keep them from spinning but you want to take them down all the way then back out 1/2 turn or so

 

i've taken mine up to temp. then re-tourqed when hot. that's been an argument on here before but i've only done one re-tourqe when hot and been holding 49-54lbs. of boost and i didn't loosen mine. you will be surprised how much they move when hot. i took mine to 120lbs cold, run up to temp then started at 105 when hot and got nearly two cranks out of them before they reached 105.??? jmho

 

Hence why i took mine to 150ft/lb. Talked to a few builders and supposedly the threads dont start pulling untill about 180. Mine all pop about 140-145 when hot. Been holding 60psi with probably too much timing for a HO, for quite a while now.

 

well i have finished installing all the parts to start and finally start the truck. took up to running temp and park it. i notice i was still blowing coolant through the exhaust. so i figure i just didnt have it tight enough and then i started on the retorque. removed all the rocker arm and finshed the retorque. fix the small fuel leak. went to check and add coolant beings i filled when cold and knew to add after air was at the top of the system, and found that i had pumped oil into the coolant system. at this point i got really confused. so i flushed the coolant system and filled with just water. started up and drove never went over 10psi of boost, brought to temp and parked. check the coolant and not alot of oil (assumeing it was left over from first drive). so were and how did i get oil in the coolant???? and then i quit for the day. so tomorrow being a new day hopefully i can find some kind of simple mistake i made and all will be well. i magnafluxed the head surface and found NO cracks. Could i possible have an interal crack letting coolant through the exhaust?? i am sure i have lost and confused many reading this!!!!

 

only remove and retorque 1 at a time...taking more then one or 2 off at a time your risking re-warping the head

 

fire or o-ring'd?

 

i only did one stud at a time. it is fire ringed. the new gasket is a .090" and the fire rings are .105" which leave a .015 crush of the fire ring. this is a new design by scheid. i didnt have to cut a groove into the cyl head surface or the block

 

I just put my engine back together and I am having the same issue. I have Scheid fire rings but had them cut into the block. I am getting coolant into the oil and I blew the head gasket out on the front side of the motor with less than 30 psi of boost so I am back to square 1. Compression tests came back fine on the cylinders so we got the fire rings to sealed up. Only thing I can think is that we missed a crack when we checked the head and something is leaking. Will keep you posted as I learn more.

 

This is why I tell people to stay away from O rings and Fire Rings.
I seen a fire ringed truck blow coolant all the way down the track twice yesterday.

 

well i finally got it to stop leaking. i gues enough retorque and finally go to 112ft/lbs sealed it up. no more oil in the coolant no more white haze out the exhuast. now if i could just get that injector line to quit leaking. thanks for the input guys.