ShruikaN

Alright so I'm putting the heads back on my car today and when I fit the gasket to the deck I noticed that it doesn't cover the entire mating surface.

All the holes line up perfectly, but the "prongs" on the top of the gasket don't cover the entire deck on the block.

I was just wondering if this would be an issue or not.

Thanks

https://i.imgur.com/abN6Nkk.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/isBE6nX.jpg

captainchadl

Do you have a picture?

ShruikaN

Those two links at the bottom of my post are pictures. I can't upload directly to the form due to the file sizes.

I have a bigger issue though. Was torquing the new head bolts after deciding to just go with the gaskets I have, and on the 3rd torque stage on the 4th bolt in the sequence, the head of the bolt snapped off into the block. Will left-hand drill bits turn this out?

Thanks

captainchadl

Probably not. Your best bet would be a center punch , a drill motor, and a tap. take your time and drill slowly. That happened to me, but it was the cylinder head, it had a broke intake manifold bolt.

ShruikaN

So use the tap as a drill bit?

captainchadl

No you need to drill it out with a drill bit. Although the bolt that broke, does the bolt hole go straight through to the crank case?

ShruikaN

Its one of the lower head bolts that go along the bottom outside edge of the head near the exhaust manifold. I believe the threads start at the top of the deck on these ones.

captainchadl

Your going to have to center punch the bolt and drill the bolt out slowly and stepping up to a larger and larger bit until you get to the bit size need to retap the threads.

ShruikaN

Yeah I was thinking that that's what I would have to end up doing. Was just hoping for an easier route.

Thank you for the help

captainchadl

Question, did you clean the threads with a tap before you started threading in the bolts?

ShruikaN

I kind of did by using the old bolts after cleaning them and the holes with brake clean. Just ran them all the way down until they were flush then blew out the holes with compressed air and threaded in the new bolts.

Will definitely be getting a good tap and die set after this as well as a set of ARP head bolts. Sending the second box of Fel-Pro bolts back to Napa.

captainchadl

Those fuel pros's are fine. Just go to home depot and get the set. I have it and it is great, but you will need to go to Napa and get a bottoming tap.

ShruikaN

Well its either send the second box back and get the ARPs, get another box of Fel-Pros, or use the what I have left of the Fel-Pros with 1 of the old head bolts replacing the one that sheared off.

Also, is this tap and die set a good one? http://m.homedepot.com/p/Bosch-Black-Oxide-Tap-Die-Set-19-Piece-B44712/203598099/

Shank diameter on the head bolts are 3/8" and this set has 3/8-16 and 3/8-24. I'm thinking the TPI on the head bolts is -16 but I don't have a tooth gauge to measure.

captainchadl

I had the Irwin set, but I would imagine the head bolts to be 1/2 inch. If it is 3/8 it is more than likely to be 3/8- 16

captainchadl

As for the bolts there theoretically one time use. Once they have been torqued, then they are stretched and should be replaced.

ShruikaN

Yeah the socket size for the bolts is 1/2 but the shank diameter is smaller so its either 3/8 or 5/16, not really sure which though.

And for the bolts themselves, that's why I was worried about reusing any of them. All the new ones have been torqued so they're at least somewhat stretched right now. I love the reviews on the ARPs plus this shearing problem is making me nervous with Fel-Pro bolts. I don't want this to be more than a one-time issue so I've hesitant to keep using Fel-Pros after this even though the problem was probably dirty threads.