I bought the 235cc intake runner Protopline heads, and I was going to put them on, and I can not get a socket in to tighten the head bolts, on the 14 and 17, because the area is drilled to narrow. Has any body heard of this before, or know what to do about it. Because i ground a socket down so that it would just fit in the whole if i tapped it in and when i went to do 17 the socket broke at 54 ft. lbs

 

Yes it has been heard of.

You need some of the head bolts with a smaller head, maybe a 12-point. Stock ones, or any other ones with a 5/8" hex head, are too big.

 

I have protopline vortecs, I had the same problem. I broke 6 5/8" sockets before switching to ARP 12 point head bolts.

Go buy a few hardened 5/8" deep sockets, mill their diameter down till it will fit. Yes, it weakens the socket, yes the sockets tend to break, but it's only 4 bolts. I torqued, untorqued, torqued, and untorqued and broke 6 sockets in the process. I did 2 rebuilds before switcing to 12 point. Its up to you, my buddy's garage had a lathe, so it took 5 minutes to machine the socket down til it fit. You'd probably be better off just spending the 50$ for the ARP 12 points.

 

The fel pro head bolts I get have a 1/2" head, that might help. They're like $12/head