I accidently put that Form A Gasket HARDENING formula on my head bolts and torqued them down to 70 lbs and now I read get non hardening. Will I be ok? If I pull one out at a time and change the stuff and re torque them will I be ok? Will the head gasket me ok if I pulled the whole head off again? (Aluminum Heads + 1010 gasket) Thanks

 

that doesnt sound good....hardening? you want a lubricant, not a glue. I would take them out, 1 at a time and clean them and apply a lubricant. It will be tricky cleaning out the holes though.

 

You should do them one at a time. You definitely need a sealant, not a lubricant, although if you use the Loctite PST (pipe selaer with Teflon) you get both.

You need a sealant because the threads go directly into the water jacket, and without sealant, coolant will be forced up around the bolts and will get in the oil. And we all know how that is a bad thing.

After you do them all, go around the engine one last time and check the torque. Whatever you do, DO NOT OVER-TORQUE THEM!!! That is responsible for more head gasket failure than any one other thing. DO NOT exceed 65 ft-lbs.

 

You screwed up. Fortunately, it'll probably work just fine. I wouldn't waste time ripping the heads off again. You will have to run a thread chase through the threads in the block to clean them out and that means taking the heads completely off. Don't waste your time. It'll probably seal up just fine. I've sealed up head bolts with all kinds of incorrect crap. Put it together and fire it up. Keep you eyes peels for weepy head bolts and milky looking oil. If you don't have those problems, forget about it and go on with life. Use the correct stuff next time.

 

i'd take them out and put liquid teflon sealer on them, even if you don't have a problem now over time the hardening sealer will break the seal from repeted heat/cooling cycles.

 

Ok I'll do this. Can I still do them one at a time and torque back down to 70LBS?

 

OK i just got in. I took only the bolts out there were in the coolant passages. I took one out at a time. The stuff I put looked like it would do fine but i covered it with loctite thread sealer (white stuff) and put back in hole and tq to 70 lbs. Then i went around in the pattern and did all 17. I think i'll be ok now. Thanks for your help.!!

 

As usual, RB has it right. Most experienced engine builders i know swear by the PST sealant for head bolts. In my early days of building engines, I used to use ultra blue silicone on the bolts with decent results, but the PST is definitely the best stuff to use.

 

All the bolts go into coolant, every single one of them. The entire deck of the block has water underneath it. You must do all the bolts if you don't want leaks.

 

can we use cooper spray for the bolts? and if over tq the bolts would it harm the gasket if i back them off to the right tq

 

If it ain't broke don't fix it !!!