tighting head bolts

[johnnyjaws]

in the shop manuals on tighting head bolts it says tighten to 60lbs and a additional 20 or 40 degrees could someone explane to me what degrees means

[airmike]

in the shop manuals on tighting head bolts it says tighten to 60lbs and a additional 20 or 40 degrees could someone explane to me what degrees means

I have attached a file. You tighten the bolts to 60 lbs then turn the torque wrench more-a percent of a full turn. 90 degrees would be 1/4 turn-45 degrees would be 1/8 of a turn-22.5 degrees would be 1/16 of a turn etc....

hope this helps

degrees.zip

[Cadillac Jim]

A school protractor can be a help in understanding degrees as an angle measurement unit. Sixty degrees is 1/3 of a half-turn. Since this is a head bolt specification, it's more important to torque them all the same than to make sure that they all have more than 55 degrees but less than 65 degrees or some such. But you should try to make a cardboard template that marks out the twist angle and use it for each head bolt.

Torque-and-twist head bolts are not new and are very common on newer engines. I turned up a Snap-On attachment that measures the twist angle that you can use with a torque wrench or other 1/2" drive socket wrench to calibrate a twist angle:

Snap-On 1/2" drive Torque Angle Gauge, $82.50

It looks like it goes between the socket wrench and the socket, and you somehow lock the reference (perhaps by using the apparatus seen behind the gauge in an adjoining water jacket hole or other convenient anchor point) before you begin the twist. Then the dial gauge lets you measure the twist angle accurately.

Here are a couple of how-to pages that I found on a web search for "torque angle gauge:"

http://www.ehow.com/how_7290519_use-torque-angle-gauge.html

http://www.cdxetextbook.com/toolsEquip/hpt/measuring/usetorqgauge.html

[KHE]

Lisle makes a degree wheel that is fine for the DIY mechanic for around $25.00.

[johnnyjaws]

thanks

[Cadillac Jim]

Amazon lists scads of torque angle meters, and even some torque wrenches with torque angle measurement included as part of the torque wrench. Some of them look very much like the SnapOn example that I found but sell for farrrr less, one below $10. Another has a photo of how it is used; apparently the L-shaped piece that looks like an Allan wrench is held by the outside of the dial by the long leg, and the short leg anchors at some point on your cylinder head to hold the outside stationary while the dial rotates. The Amazon search page:

Amazon Search Page for Torque Angle Gauge

The Lisle that Kevin referred to is on the page.

[johnnyjaws]

when cleaning the surfaces of the deck and head can you use steel wool on it i already cleaned the gaskets off with gasket remover and a plastic scraper or just leave it like it is?

[BodybyFisher]

See #17 in this article, this may not be something you want contaminating the head gasket surfaces. Also DO NOT use Scotch-Brite as recommended in this article, particles can get into the engine and damage it (non use of it is specifically stated in the service manual)

http://www.team.net/...h/clean_al.html

[KHE]

when cleaning the surfaces of the deck and head can you use steel wool on it i already cleaned the gaskets off with gasket remover and a plastic scraper or just leave it like it is?

NO! DO NOT use steel wool - you do not want any particles of steel wook getting into the oil passages.

Once you scrape the surfaces with a plastic scraper, use brake clean spray to remove the remaining gasket residue.

[winterset]

In my opinion, I would take the heads to a machine shop & get them cleaned & machined down for the $200. part of the process also involves checking the valve seals. the HG kits usually contain valve seals anyway. having all the oil seals unconditionally replaced will cost more.

I would think the 2nd leading cause of repeat HG failure would be head warpage. Not sure how N* heads could be immune to this otherwise common problem.

[Cadillac Jim]

Most aluminum heads with reasonable flatness have sufficient flexibility to pull down flat with the clamping forces used in high performance engines.

[johnnyjaws]

i have not touched them cleaned them up wouldnt it be good if i put a orbital sander across it lightly to give it some surface to grab on too.?

[BodybyFisher]

They are not like brake rotors where you need to rough up the surface for the pads to break in, just make sure the mating surfaces are clean, do not use any scrapers that will cause scratching. Follow KHEs recommendation, he has done this job

How many bolt holes are you timeserting?

[Cadillac Jim]

I wouldn't allow any abrasive near the heads, including cleaning compounds. A machine shop will have a final vat-cleaning process that you won't have in a garage and can use these things. But I have seen stripped distributor gears in cars rebuilt by good machine shops because a single grain of grinding compound locked up the oil pump. If you can't get the head surface clean, take it to a machine shop.

[johnnyjaws]

im studing the engine from northstar performance its my spare motor i should have done this from the start ill be selling it when done

[BodybyFisher]

im studing the engine from northstar performance its my spare motor i should have done this from the start ill be selling it when done

Listen, not to be a prick, but from this side of the keyboard, this response is lacking, sterile and ignorant after all of us posted guidance and suggestions above. This is an exchange of information and ideas, if we are exchanging ideas with you, it is appropriate to respond to the ideas so that we are involved and that we know you are following us. For us to continue to respond to you, this must be an ongoing exchange, not a feeling that we are talking to ourselves.

What will happen is that we will feel slighted and unappreciated and we will no longer respond and that will be your loss. I dont know if this is a communication problem of yours, a writing problem, laziness, a lack of intelligence, a feeling that we are here to serve you or what but please try to interact with the good members here and write in complete thoughts not tid bits that fall out of your then current line of thinking. We are all busy here, not just you, and no one gets paid here to be at your service. Look back at this thread and look at your responses and pretend you are us and you will be frustrated, our words go into a black hole.

I and others here have asked questions and you have completely ignored them, like how many holes have you timeserted.... that went right into a black hole.

What is wrong? Do you have me and others HIDDEN? If not try to communicate more directly you will get much more help here

[johnnyjaws]

im sorry that you feel that way by no means do i mean to offend you in any way about the time serts i thought i answerd that question by saying im studding the block with northstar performance

[KHE]

i have not touched them cleaned them up wouldnt it be good if i put a orbital sander across it lightly to give it some surface to grab on too.?

NO! Just clean them as I described in my earlier post. The heads do not "warp" like small block Chevy heads. The factory valve seals are viton and will last several lifetimes. With an aftermarket kit, you do not know what material the valve seals are made of. They could be a cheap rubber compound that will degrade after a few years and the engine could start burning oil.

The key to sucess in repairing the Northstar engine is following the factory procesures outlined in the service manual. Do not attemp to shortcut any of the repair or re-engineer the engine - that always leads to trouble.

[BodybyFisher]

im sorry that you feel that way by no means do i mean to offend you in any way about the time serts i thought i answerd that question by saying im studding the block with northstar performance

You are NOT offending me, I have gotten other complaints about you. PLEASE be MORE interactive just dont BLOW me or others off because you THOUGHT, I FN asked you a question just ANSWER it, we have more to do than to just know ALL about your situation. Try to be clearer, concise, answer questions we ask. Your threads are VERY VERY confusing, as of right now, I am not sure what the hell you are doing, the old engine or the new engine, you are not clear what you are doing are you ACTUALLY doing this job or walking through it in your head?

[johnnyjaws]

thanks for the input ill start grouping the things that im doing into one thread i am currently doing hg on the motor that the car came with got the gasket kit yesterday from rock auto got almost 10.00 dollars off with discount am waiting on northstar performance stud kit

[KHE]

johnnyjaws,

Please use punctuation and capitialization in your posts. It will make the posts much easier to read.

[johnnyjaws]

Today i was cleaning parts of the engine. On the cross over were the water pump gos,the bolt with the hole in it, that coolant flows thru. I noticed how small that hole is would it benefit to open up that passage way with a drill bit to give it more flow?

[BodybyFisher]

Today i was cleaning parts of the engine. On the cross over were the water pump gos,the bolt with the hole in it, that coolant flows thru. I noticed how small that hole is would it benefit to open up that passage way with a drill bit to give it more flow?

No just make sure its is clear, it is simply to let out air, it does not affect cooling, ONLY if it is clogged is it a problem, it takes about 10 minutes to pull that bolt and clean it, dont mess with it, GMs engineers designed it well