onofre442

hey guys, i was installing the new heads on my car, edelbrock #60519 and i believe i overtorqued by 5fl lbs. should have been @ 80 to 85, and i torqued it @ 90ft lbs. can i back it up and retorque with the original bolt and gasket? or do i need to replace the bolt and gasket. i didnt feel any of the bolts stretched.


thank you,

oldcutlass

I'd just leave it be. Chances are you'll be fine.

Sugar Bear

X2, I think it will be fine. Leave it alone.

matt69olds

I’d leave it alone, for now. Once you have run it a few times, go back and loosen each head bolt one at a time and retorque. Most head gaskets say no need to re-torque, but better safe than sorry. Just out of curiosity, mark each bolts at rest position, then see if the mark moved after re-torque.

joe_padavano

Backing off and retorquing can cause gasket problems. Leave it alone.

matt69olds

this is the first I have heard of this. Even taking them loose one at a time and retorquing?

Olds64

I wouldn't hesitate to "re-torque" heads that didn't use TTY bolts if I was troubleshooting a loss of compression. For the OP he should just leave the headbolts alone. 5 ft. lbs. isn't anything to be concerned about, especially when using an over-the-counter torque wrench.

FWIW, SOP in Ford dealerships in the 80s and 90s was to re-torque the heads on IDI diesels to cure oil weeping from the back of the head gaskets. I wonder if Oldsmobile diesels suffered from similar oil leaks?

joe_padavano

Look, I've taken one bolt out and replaced it before - mainly to install a head bolt with an accessory stud. The OP is talking about loosening ALL of them and retorquing. That's a different situation. And retorquing head bolts without loosening all of them first also won't disturb the gasket. I would hesitate to back off on all of them then retorque in sequence. Going from 85 to 90 isn't an issue in my opinion, especially given the variability in bolt tension vs torque for applications like this. The torque doesn't matter, it's the tension load in the bolt and the resulting joint preload that matters. The amount of lube under the head of the bolt (and the resulting change in friction) can make far more difference in bolt tension than will 5 ft-lbs difference in torque.

matt69olds

That makes sense. Your absolutely right, differences in oil or lube on the threads has more affect on final torque. Add in torque wrench tolerances, and torquing technique and the variables start to add up.

However, I think you misunderstood me. I was not suggesting to OP loosen ALL the bolts to torque them, just loosen one, retorque, go to the next bolt, loosen, and retorque, etc. until they are all checked.

joe_padavano

I figured that. I'm not sure what doing that for every head bolt in sequence will do to the overall clamping force on the head. The correct way to torque the head is to start with all the bolts loose then torque them in steps. In this case you've got a head that's completely clamped with bolts potentially having greater tension than designed. Now you want to remove one of those, re-lube it, and torque it to the factory spec while the head is held tightly and the gasket is clamped. Every time you remove another bolt to do that, you change the stresses in the head and the clamping force on the head gasket. I'm not saying it won't work, but the risk of screwing up the gasket seal is probably greater than any risk from just leaving it alone.

onofre442

thank you everyone for sharing your expertise.