Gotta clean this pig up, so you can see the funky bolt between the #1 and #3 cylinder.
BOTH sides have a bolt like this , so I'm replacing all 10 of them, one at a time.
New manifold bolts and exhaust bolts too.....possibly.

Just curious what people recommend for bolts instead of guinea piggin a random choice.

OldsEngineRockers.jpg

 

There's nothing wrong with stock bolts. Those two have integral studs for accessories. It is common for a couple of them to be on an engine, whether or not it had those options.

 

I think this is a "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" situations!
One at a time - if you mean not removing the heads, intake, or exhaust, not replacing gaskets, just one bolt at a time - you're looking for problems!
Some of those bolts go into water jackets, so the threads should be cleaned and re-sealed before a bolt goes in!
Not to mention possibly warping heads, or breaking a gasket seal if everythings not straight!
I'd advise against doing it that way!
ARP makes a complete set of bolts for almost anything - through Jegs or one of the other mail-order places.
The one on the left is for a alternator-P/S bracket.
On the right side is for the A/C bracket.

 

Didn't know that, thanks. Thought someone rigged it with wrong bolts.

Yes, that is what I meant.....just remove one, clean it, put it back in.

I was planning on cleaning each bolt off as it came out, as part of prepping the entire engine for paint.
So 1 at a time is NOT recommended ?? I really don't feel like removing the heads entirely.

 

are you sure about that? without going out to look, i was thinking that Oldsmobile always had caps on all the bolt holes on the inside of water ports? it's ben a while so i may be wrong.

 

No head bolts go into water jackets on Olds.

Go back to the Chevy forum, where they do....

 

Isn't that where the heat riser attaches?

 

The stud on the 2nd bolt head is for the alternator H bracket on an air conditioned olds motor. The one on the right is for AC.

Best bolts? I use ARP bolts when I rebuild an engine. I do not see a reason to replace the bolts like you are talking about. That would give you problems as noted above.

I think Rickman48 has nailed it. If it aint broke don't fix it. Murphys law was written about things like this.

 

I've also used ARP head bolts. They are great. However, if you don't plan on removing the heads completely I wouldn't replace the bolts. It might cause the head gaskets to fail.

 

As stated above no head bolts go into the water. Yes you could remove one at a time, clean, oil the threads and the shoulder, reinstall and re-torque, but that is a useless exercise. It is unlikely to cause a gasket failure unless you put a lot of oil on the threads and it leaches around the gasket (not real likely if a steel shim OEM gasket). If the head gaskets were replaced with Fel Pro "roofing paper" gaskets, leave them alone, definitely. Just wire brush the heads if you want to detail and repaint.