Re-torque aluminum heads......

65fastbackresto

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Says they needs retorqued after a 2 or 3 hour run or few heat cycles.

Question is, engine bay in my 65 is pretty tight, is this re torque procedure possible with the engine sitting in the bay? I bet some of yall been in this boat before.

 

SoCalCruising

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Jun 9, 2008

#2

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• #2

Yes. I needed a swivel adapter (plus extension, of course) for some of the outside nuts (I have studs), but it was doable.

 

D

D.Hearne

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Doing it with a U-joint swivel gets you an inaccurate torque reading. Do it only with extensions if at all. I've done em with a big block Stang, you just have to use the right combination of extensions and sockets.

 

red65

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Jun 10, 2008

#4

• Jun 10, 2008

• #4

65fastbackresto said:

Says they needs retorqued after a 2 or 3 hour run or few heat cycles.

Question is, engine bay in my 65 is pretty tight, is this re torque procedure possible with the engine sitting in the bay? I bet some of yall been in this boat before.

Click to expand...

The Holley instructions with my aluminum systemax heads didn't say they needed to be retorqued, nor does Fel-pro's literature say anything about it. I've run for three years with 9psi from an S/C.

In the old days, retorquing head gaskets was a common procedure, but I haven't seen anything advising it in probably 15 years. Where did you read it?

 

65fastbackresto

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The instructions that came with the heads.

Edelbrock recommended it.

It says exactly, and I qoute.

"A re-torque is recommended after initial start-up and cool-down (allow 2 to 3 hours for adequate cooling)."

 

D

D.Hearne

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It would depend on the gasket manufacturer's recommendation, not the head mfg. With a Felpro Permatorque blue or the 5.0's graphite gaskets, no retorque is needed.

 

65fastbackresto

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Isn`t the retorque recommended....

because of dis-similar metals? That is, aluminum against steel? Wouldn`t they "settle" so to speak after a heat cycle?

Lets keep in mind that these heads I bought are old school, and someone else used that phrasewhen referring to them.

 

D

D.Hearne

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I've never retorqued the gaskets under my Canfields. Gaskets are Felpro 5.0 Expanded Graphite (the stock 5.0 gaskets) Motor's been together for about 4 years now (if not more) The only change I made with these was to liberally coat them with Kopper Kote spray. I used em with the Printo-Seal gaskets at first but had two failures with em.

 

65fastbackresto

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I got FelPro gaskets with copper rings

They were one step up from stock gaskets, think I`ll be ok then?

 

D

D.Hearne

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If they're the Printo ****s, then you're lookin for trouble. Those were the recommended gaskets for my Canfields The Printoseals are black with beaded sealer around the coolant ports. They're SUPPOSED to be the Hi-po gaskets. But they're crap.

 

J

Jimmys66

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Jun 10, 2008

#11

• Jun 10, 2008

• #11

I've always been under the train of thought that pretty much anything aluminum needs a retorque.

I redo heads, rims, intakes and even the aluminum water pump in the car. There is just no reason not to unless you use stretch head bolts. If you go back through it and everything is at the right spec, you may have lost time but gained piece of mind.

I need to keep what little bit of my mind that I have left..........

 

65fastbackresto

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These are part number 1011-2.

Danny if you would pull that up on Summit before I install them, let me know if I`m on the right track.

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=FPP-1011-2&autoview=sku

 

D

D.Hearne

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#13

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65fastbackresto said:

Danny if you would pull that up on Summit before I install them, let me know if I`m on the right track.

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=FPP-1011-2&autoview=sku

Click to expand...

It's David, not Danny. And the ones you linked to are the Printo seals. You can buy the expanded graphite gaskets at your local parts house. The only part number I can find is 1152. They're listed as .045 thick, but seems to me the ones I used were .042.

 

65fastbackresto

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Well I`m glad I asked now for sure.

Sorry about the name mix up, I been calling you Danny for a year, you could have just changed your name......

Advance Auto is gonna hate me, but they`ll just have to get over it.

Tell me this if you would, if money were no object, which gaskets would you get? I dont know which gaskets are better or worse, cause I know nothing about the subject matter at all. My stupid engine builder should be doing this, not me, but thats another story I think you know pretty well (steam holes)......

 

D

D.Hearne

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I've always found that the more expensive a part is doesn't always mean the better it is. The priceyest parts I have in my 331 are the Canfield heads. And I bought em second hand on ebay. Ditto for the 3x2 induction on it. My recommendation is still the stock expanded graphite head gaskets. They've done the job for me without failure. I've even gotten this motor heated to 250*(probably more on occasion) and they've held where the recommended Printoseals didn't.

 

65fastbackresto

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I bought a hi po water pump

from edelbrock, and a hi flow thermastat, if I get lucky maybe I wont need to rip the heads off at all I hope. I`m still fighting this heating issue, and the 3 inch griffin helped some, but didnt fix it totally.

 

6

68conv4sp

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#17

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Do you have a fan shroud and an overflow can? The shroud benefits are obvious - that alone fixed my over-heat issues. The can is more subtle - it keeps air from entering the radiator during cool down when you shut the car off after a heat cycle. This maximizes the volume of coolant in the system and discourages air entrainment. Also helps reduce oxidation as well by limiting oxygen availability in the cooling system.

 

65fastbackresto

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I got a good shroud......

But, I never thought an overflow can could help, I actually thought they were just there to keep antifreeze from spilling on the ground to protect dogs and stuff.....

I will be getting a can now though, glad you told me....thanks.

I`m new to the car thing, 1 year old, I still learn things every time I mess with the car, probably wouldn`t touch it otherwise though.

 

D

D.Hearne

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#19

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Did you ever check to see if the head gaskets were on backwards? Not that I think you actually have a problem, I still think you need to chill out and put some miles and hours on it to let it loosen up. Make a half dozen runs over Boston Mtn. and see what it does. If it doesn't get over 220-230 pulling the hill, it's going to be fine.

 

65fastbackresto

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#20

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The gaskets are ok.

I can see them poking out from underneath the front of the heads anyway, I was told that was what to look for.

I`m adding air conditioning to the car now, and want to get it where it wont heat up at idle (like it does now), and it also heats under a few seconds of pedal pressure if you know what I mean. I`m gonna try and drive it after the water pump is done...we`ll see what happens.