600 mi service: cly. head attach bolt tightening

[Jerry_75_Guy]

Ok, after putting 600mi+ on my trusty 2001 RT after replacing the cly. head gasket, Clymer's says 'A. tighten the cly. head attach bolts to 20nm', then, 'B. using a degree wheel, (everything in a crisscross pattern, of course) and tighten an additional 180 degrees'.

 

The bolts were already @ 20nm (or a bit more) according to the torque wrench; so much for item 'A.'

 

I then began to tighten each bolt and additional 180 degrees. After ~ 45degrees they started to feel pretty darn tight, read: I was afraid if I continued to the put in the final 135 degrees, I could very possibly over tighten the nuts and/or shear a bolt end off ( been there!!! , and I'm damned well not gonna go again if I can help it!!!!).

 

So, what to do!? By my lights, I figure the nuts are tightened 'just fine', and it's time to 'button 'er back up' and go for a ride, but I've done more than enough 'assuming' with such things, and wanted to asked the collective wisdom here before proceeding.

 

What say you all?

[Bob Palin]

Ok, after putting 600mi+ on my trusty 2001 RT after replacing the cly. head gasket, Clymer's says 'A. tighten the cly. head attach bolts to 20nm', then, 'B. using a degree wheel, (everything in a crisscross pattern, of course) and tighten an additional 180 degrees'.

 

The bolts were already @ 20nm (or a bit more) according to the torque wrench; so much for item 'A.'

You can't measure the current tightness of bolts properly using a torque wrench. You are supposed to loosen the bolts one at a time, torque them to 20NM then do the 180 degrees, it does feel a bit tight but I've done it a couple of times on my RT without problem.

 

Edit: in fact if the bolts were only at 20nm after the gasket replacement I doubt if your gaskets are any good now, this is a re-torqueing not an initial torqueing, that's probably why they felt so hard to turn!

[Jerry_75_Guy]

You can't measure the current tightness of bolts properly using a torque wrench. You are supposed to loosen the bolts one at a time, torque them to 20NM then do the 180 degrees, it does feel a bit tight but I've done it a couple of times on my RT without problem.

 

Edit: in fact if the bolts were only at 20nm after the gasket replacement I doubt if your gaskets are any good now, this is a re-torqueing not an initial torqueing, that's probably why they felt so hard to turn!

 

Thanks Bob; that makes much more sense to me. Clymer's just said 'tighten to 20nm' not 'loosen and retighten to 20nm'; their lack of specificity is irritating for me given my lack of mechanical experience (if I really already knew what the heck I was doing, I wouldn't need the book! ;-)

 

The nuts were pretty tight initially. I did just as you suggested; loosen, tighten to 20nm, then tighten an additional 180 degrees, and it worked just fine.

 

Thanks very much for the quick response!!