head gasket replacement

[hartland74]

I was putting my valve cover on when :eek: one of the long bolts on the right side broke. I torqued it down to 17 lbs like the book says and SNAP:mad: Anyway I am going to have to remove the head to repair .This is a fresh rebuild with all new gaskets and the engine has not been started . Will the head gasket still be good on the second go around or do I need to get a new one? BTW after making this mistake I checked the tech articals and it says the 17 is incorrect and to torque @8 lbs. wish I would have known that b4 ,costly misprint I guess:huh

[TheX1992]

what kind of gasket is it? stock? cometic? sometimes you can. sometimes when you torque them down they will crush and mold to the 2 faces. im not sure if you can do that twice. to be safe i would either 1. buy a new gasket (their fairly cheap anyways) or 2. put some high temp silicone (gasket sealer) around both sides. your best bet would be number 1 though. if your hard on cash im sure it would be an alright temporary fix.

[hartland74]

it is a cometic steel flex . I want to make sure there are no shortcuts ,thats why I torqued the vc down:grr: opps, I just didnt want to throw away agood gasket if its still ok:confused:

[Silverfox@C&DRacing]

Are you running a high compression piston?
If so and you have the steel flex gasket you will be ok to reuse it but I would recommend that the head bolts be torqued 4-5 ftlbs more than the factory spec.. remember factory specs are for stock engines.;)

[Bill Fuller]

You should not have any problems reusing your gasket.A little trick I learned when using "paper" gaskets is to coat them with oil on both sides,this will help when removing the head or what ever piece it is and you will not tear the gasket,also helps when cleaning up a removed gasket.

[hartland74]

Well I just got done and have taken it for 2 small break in rides and everything so far seems to be doing great:D hope it stays that way! Tommorow will be the test , a all day ride at land between the lakes .Thanks everybody and thanks to C and D ,great support,I know I had to call back a few times:rolleyes: That means a LOT!

[Bill Fuller]

Should be good riding wheather.Its raining here now(lightly)