Needed to torque the head bolts after installing a Ricardo head yesterday. I checked the Forum and found a thread that said 55lbs. Today I double checked and looked at a bunch of threads instead of one and they all say 50lbs. What should I do now. Back off and re torque to 50 or leave them at 55 lbs.????
Jay, I think the guy that rebuilt my motor used 50. The rear center head bolt was seeping anti freeze, so after coating the threads with red RTV, I installed and torqued to 55 and bought the others up to 55 as well. If you've got good bolts and the threads in the block are good, I don't think 5 pounds is going to make or break things.
Jay,if you didn't strip any threads or break any headbolts, 55 is fine to leave. If you have to re-fit it some time, then stop at 50.
Just my opinion.
Allan from down under.
Most or all of them will loosen up a bit after driving it a while. When you re-torque, just use 50# for your target. 55 won't hurt anything in the meantime, if it didn't already.
Oh -- I guess I said basically the same thing as Allan.
THANKS GUY'S!!
I just switched heads on my '25, and the torque went down to 45#, so I just redid them to 55#. Gosh Mike, had I have known, I would have retorqued them to 50#.
Royce has said early blocks were not as high strength cast iron as later ones and you need to be careful not to strip the threads on them.
Ted, Good to hear that. The head I torqued to 55lbs was on our 1927 speedster.