should I retorque my head bolts?

[rockin_rick]

I got my head bolts all torqued down, but I am wondering if I should redo it. When I bolted down my heads, I first checked PV clearance, and used ARP moly on the long bolts, and ARP sealant on the shorts. Then I took off the heads without ever being run, and left them off for about a month. When I reinstalled them, I didn't bother to clean out the month old sealant from the threads in the block for the short bolts, I just applied a bit more sealant, and torqued them down.

I didn't bother because the ARP sealant is supposedly non hardening. And thus, the remaining sealant in the holes would provide the same amount of resistance as having the sealant on the bolts. Is this a correct assumption?

When I was torqueing them, it "seemed" that the sealant coated bolts didn't take as much of a turn of the wrench to get them to the torque value. This COULD have been my imagination. At the time, I thought that it was just the way it was, as the sealant HAS to be less 'slippery' as the moly lube.

Should I remove the heads now (still unrun, intake off, headers off, valves adjusted) and clean the treads, reapply sealant, and retorque them? I have thread chasers.

Are Felpro 1011-2 head gaskets re-usable? How many times can they be retorqued?

Thanks,
Rick

 

[1105]

I just got finished putting my pass side head back on today... only cleaned off the bolts themselves and everything seems to be doing fine right now. Idles perfectly... Actually better than before.

 

[rockin_rick]

Am I worring for nothing?

 

[Redsnk95]

I would just leave them...get the car running, after a few heat cycles pull the valve covers and re-torque the heads.

Troy

 

[deadmeat28332]

I would highly suggest a re-torque after a few warm up cycles. Even "no-retorque" head gaskets will relax a little, also recheck your intake bolts

Larry

 

[rockin_rick]

I do plan on retorqueing after a few warm cycles. But that is not the point I am trying to make. I don't doubt that the bolts are torqued to spec, but what I am wondering is if the sealant left over in the threads is causing a false torque reading.

Specifically, what I am wondering is if the added friction would cause the bolt to not clamp down on the head as hard at the applied torque value.

Rick