Urgent, Headbolt retorque

[PynkEye]

Hi, im presently retorquing the head with ARP headbolts, everything is off, I took one of the bolts out, and put a arp in, now when I tried removing the other...my 3/8 socket wont fit in, because of the camshaft, only on 3-4 of the bolts I wont have access, since the way the camshaft is positioned, it has a dumb little piece of metal (¨probably for balance) in the way, so no way to get that socket in there...how the hell am I suppose to get it out.
Any way of turning the camshafts ???

Pls help

Thanks guys

 

[clifftrail]

Put a socket on the main pulley at the crank and turn it either way to get the clearance you need.

 

[souprat]

i ran into the same problem doing my hg. i just turned the cams ever so slightly to get clearance, i used a 3/8 socket.

 

[PynkEye]

on the crankshaft ???? that means i have to take off that cam cover thing ?

 

[PynkEye]

oh and you can turn the cams ??? how did u manage that..they seem pretty stiff

 

[John Lunsford]

All you have to do is put a 19mm or 3/4" socket on the crank pulley bolt and turn it. You don't have to take the cam sprocket cover off or anything. Make sure the car is in neutral. Just turn it until you have the clearance you need. Also, just as a tip, make sure that you use some good molly lube and not just motor oil on those ARPs and torque them to 85 ft/lbs. ARPs are supposed to be at 85 ft/lbs. with molly lube reguardless of the OEM specs. If you use motor oil, you have to torque them to almost twice that so I don't recommend it.
Good luck.

 

[PynkEye]

cool, ill be turning the crank right now, i have like 3 bolts i cant get out. Ya i got me some molly lube with the arp headbolts, and they are torqued to 85lbs, ill let them seat during the night, and tomrowo after work ill recheck the torque.

Thanks guys

 

[souprat]

another thing i did while torquing my heads was torque them to like 30ft/lbs then take a soft rubber mallet and start beating around the heads, also take a punch and put it ontop of your headstuds and give them two taps with a hammer. then re-torque to 30ft/lbs. repeat all this at 50, 70 and 85ft/lbs. after the shock of the hammer the heads settled and lost some torque. i think it helped.

 

[americanjebus]

i just wanna know how your doing this for future knowledge, are you doing this on oem head gasket or metal and do let us know how it turns out in the end.

 

[chriso]

Also, just as a tip, make sure that you use some good molly lube and not just motor oil on those ARPs and torque them to 85 ft/lbs. ARPs are supposed to be at 85 ft/lbs. with molly lube reguardless of the OEM specs. If you use motor oil, you have to torque them to almost twice that so I don't recommend it.

Oh shit....I used motor oil on my ARP's and torqued them to 85 ft/lbs. Not to hijack this thread but are you saying that I have to take them out one by one and redo them with moly lube???

 

[antman]

yeah.. i'd like to know how long that lasts and with what psi.

 

[John Lunsford]

Well, read this from ARP...
"The lubricant used is the main factor in determining friction, and therefore, the torque for a particular installation. Motor oil is a commonly used lubricant because of it’s ready availability. If less friction is desired in order to install the fasteners with less torque, special low friction lubricants are available. With special lubes, the required torque can be reduced as much as 20 to 30 percent. It is important to keep in mind that the reverse is also true. If the torque value has been specified for a particular fastener on the basis of low friction lube, installing the fastener with motor oil will result in insufficient preload; the torque has to be increased to compensate for the extra friction caused by the motor oil."

also...
"The friction factor changes from one application to the next. That is, the friction is at its highest value when the fastener is first tightened. Each additional time the fastener is torqued and loosened, this value gets smaller. Eventually the friction levels out and becomes constant for all following repetitions. Therefore, new fasteners should be tightened and loosened through several cycles before applying final torque. The number of times depends on the lubricant. For all situations where ARP® lubricants are used, five cycles are required before final torquing."

I'd bet almost everyone on here could use that info.

 

[suprra_girl]

^ awesome... i've never used arps before and i'm planning on a non bhg 7m for the future... i was just gonna torque em up in stages of 3 or 4 but didn't realise i needed to loosen them on each stage
the arp paper i have also says 82ft lbs but i think i'll go 85ft lbs

thanks for the info

 

[chriso]

I just spoke with an engineer from ARP and this is the deal. The bolts can be torqued to 85 ft/lbs with an approved moly style lube. Either ARP's own product or a regular engine assembly lube is acceptable. If you use 30 weight motor oil then you have to torque as much as 120 ft/lbs.

 

[souprat]

wow John Lunsford, that sounds good. kinda wish i new that a few months ago.

 

[GrimJack]

BTW, just for reference...

I use ARP head bolts on a standard Toyota composite gasket. They are torqued with moly lube to 100 ft/lbs.

Until last week I was running 17psi on a stock CT-26, without any problems. The engine has been together for over a year.

Last week I upgraded to a 58 trim CT-26, and the boost is now at 20psi. We'll see how long this lasts.

 

[antman]

good to know. keep us posted please.