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Tourqe cylinder head nuts


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Hi everybody.

I went for a drive 2 weeks ago with my 1951 Windsor, when I came back home it was just running on four cylinders and it did smoke a bit.

I had a blown head gasket :-(  

When I pulled the head of there was a piece missing of the gasket between 5th and 6th cylinder, I did not get hold of a new gasket here in sweden so I had to order it from US (E-bay).

The head had been a bit warped so I milled it down so it is flat again, I had to take 7/10 of a millimeter (0,0275 inch), I messured the valve lift and it seems to be enough clearence but I will check that before I tighten the bolts.

Now here is my question:

I have searched the internet and my shop manual and I can find two different torque numbers, the shop manual says 65-70 foot pounds and I read on the web that it should be 75-80 foot pounds.

Do you guys think I should go with the shop manual or is there something "new thoughts" about the torque on the cylinder head bolts?

Thanks in advance

Lars Durkfelt

A proud owner of an old Chrysler.

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I would use the factory recommendation.

 

Be sure to chase the holes with a thread chaser, blow them out with compressed air. And if you mill the head you may have to add washers to prevent the bolts from bottoming.

 

Torque the bolts in 3 stages and retorque after you drive the car 100 miles. Do this correctly and you should have no more head gasket troubles.

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Thank you folks for the quick answers.

So when I reesembly the head I put in the bolts as it shows in the manual, tight them a bit at first and then torque them to like 45 lbs in the right order and then torque them to 65 lbs.

Then after about 100 miles (160 kilometers) I retorque them to 65 lbs again like Rusty said.

After that I hope I never need to take of the head again.

 

Lars

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Yes you are correct. Do the job carefully and the gasket will last the life of the engine. The block surface must be clean as well as the head. I like to scrape off any residue with a razor blade scraper and sand with a sanding block and 100 sandpaper to be sure it is clean and flat.

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Yepp I cleaned the block and it looks fine, now i`m just waiting for the gasket to be delivered so I can reassembly the head and then change the oil because I want to be sure that there is no water in the oil.

So soon I will be on the road again :-)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just an update.

I got the gasket last monday, it took like two hours to put everything together.

I torqued the nuts three times and than I drove it for a bit so the engine was up to temerature and then I torqued it again.

Yesterday (saturday) my wife drove like 100 miles when she entered a "rally", when she came back home I checked the nuts with the torque wrench and everything looked great.

Hopefully I dont need to change that gasket again :-).

Now the car runs really smooth and it feels strong and it starts like never before, it will be interesting to see if there is any different in the fuel consumption.

Thanks for your advice

Lars

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