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cylinder head bolt recommendation

2K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  GMR 
#1 ·
Strictly street mild performance sbc 350 with cast iron RHS vortec heads and Crane H278 cam. What head bolts would you recommend?

Do I need washers since the heads are cast iron?

Manley and ARP are longer than stock for use with washers - if I don't need washers will they be too long?

Pioneer - come without washers, good price but not sure of the quality.

Any others?
 
#2 ·
GMR said:
Strictly street mild performance sbc 350 with cast iron RHS vortec heads and Crane H278 cam. What head bolts would you recommend?

Do I need washers since the heads are cast iron?

Manley and ARP are longer than stock for use with washers - if I don't need washers will they be too long?

Pioneer - come without washers, good price but not sure of the quality.

Any others?
You don't need washers with cast iron, but they don't hurt anything if they're there. Most bolts enter the cooling jackets so length, within reason, isn't a problem.

In this age of parts, especially fasteners, from India and China it pays to be careful of your source. I don't know anything about Pioneer; but certainly Manley and ARP can stand on their reputation.

My installation technique for Chevy's and others where the bolt holes penetrate the cooling jacket is after chasing the threads to be sure they are clean. I wipe a thin layer of Teflon plumbers pipe dope down the female thread and apply a thin layer to the bolt's threads. The intention here is to push sealant ahead of the bolt so that the threads are sealed against coolant entry rather than just penetration. Any threads that become exposed will corrode, I find this technique insures the threads are dry. I have found that just applying "dope" to the bolt tends to wipe the sealant up the shank which is sufficient to stop leaks at the bolt head but often leaves the lower threads wet.

GM sells Teflon coated head bolts. I find the coating iffy mostly from the stand point that the bolts are never protected from manufacturing to customer delivery, as a result, the Teflon becomes damaged from the rubbing contact with other bolts. So I use the same sealant technique from above ppg when using these.

Plumbers Teflon paste sealant has close to the same lubricity as engine oil so no adjustment needs to be made for torque settings.

Intake bolts often also penetrate the cooling jacket so they should be installed with sealant also.

You'll find other people use differing materials which are fine also. The only stuff I shy away from is silicon RTV rubber. This material cures which is fine, except any that finds it's way into the cooling or lubrication system remains as a solid product free to circulate with the liquid till lodging someplace. This gives me nightmares, thinking of all the critical places a chunk of this stuff can get stuck into.

Bogie
 
#4 ·
I have purchased several sets of head bolts from competition products at about 19.99 a set. These come with out washers but are longer for use with washers. If you purchase these bolts you must use the washers, so even though they don't come with washers you have to order them at 8.00 a set.

I like the bolts and they work well, but for some reason the way that the bolt seats against the head without a washer gives you a high torque reading so while I thought they were ok, the gasket was barely even compressed. And it leaked.

They do come with teflon on the threads, and the bolts that are exposed are rust proofed. But since you put all that money into those heads already another 70 bucks for bolts is probably worth the investment.
 
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