If I over-torque by....

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MexicoMike said:
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In the movie "The Heist" the character played by Gene Hackman says "When I can't solve a problem I ask myself what a smarter man than me would do"

The only fasteners I use a torque wrench on are the head fasteners and the rod bolts, even if I am using the stretch method the torque wrench insures that the fasteners are under the same tension and come into the stretch spec together. I use a lab called Cal-Tek, https://www.repaircalibration.com/ about every 2 years.

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A lot of autoparts stores loan tools. If a new torque wrench isn't in your budget check with places like Autozone and O'Rielys to see if they have a loaner. Only bolts you can't easily get a torque wrench on are the one at the rear and the two at the front bottom. Generally when you retorque, which you should do after first startup and cool down, you can get a feel for these bolts based on the others.
 
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away I was a salesman for industrial equipment and one of my main products was high strength fasteners for critical applications. We used to use a load cell type of gauge to demonstrate fastener torque. I'd insert a new 3/8" bolt and nut , tighten to the specified torque and the gauge would show 9,000lbs pressure. Next I'd loosen the nut and retorque and the gauge would show approximately 6-7,000lbs. This was due to distortion of the threads. Finally I would reverse the nut and torque it again. The gauge would show 9,000lbs.
The point of my writing this is to illustrate that using a good calibrated torque wrench on threads on 50+ year old castings that have been well used over the years will only get you in the ball park and having a feel for it is important too.
 
Your responses help fellas.

I bought a second torque wrench to CMA on any further torque speculation. I torqued the head down a couple of times and then up to spec yesterday. I will finish up reassembly this morning and get some heat going.

Replacing the head gasket sucks when id rather be riding but the real mess was cleaning up all the oil that coated everything when the old gasket let go.

Thus my question on your methods, no interest in doing this again any time soon.

Thanks for sharing.
 
As a matter of interest I managed to torque the 3 recessed top cylinder head bolts by dropping a box spanner into the recess and finding a socket that fitted over the outside of the box spanner.
 
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