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Original Message
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| I wouldn't sweat it. |
| By Dave Shoe - 03/22/2001 9:43:10 AM; IP 216.243.158.82 |
While Ford's newer engines have "use once and throw away" technology engineered into their head bolts, the old bolts apparently don't.
FE head bolts sorta stretch a little to achieve good clamping force which holds over time and temperature, but they don't seem to get close to the "yield point" of the steel (as new engines design their bolts), and so they pretty much return to their original length after being removed.
If racing, I can see where you'd wanna use head studs to remove stresses from the block, but for a standard or performance build, feel free to reuse the bolts a buncha times, just as long as they arent all rusty or corroded.
You might want to run a "bottoming tap" down the block and also run the bolts through a thread cutting die, just to clean up any potential burrs or debris, but that's often times not necessary on a standard build.
Also, when installing the bolts, do not fill the head bolt holes with oil. Make sure the threads are lightly lubed in both the block and bolts, but any significant puddling of oil can sometimes cause "hydrolock" when the bolt compresses down to the puddle, and this can crack a block rather easily.
JMO,
Shoe. |
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