lifted the head...now what?

[gilligan5000]

I finally got done with my build; and three miles down the road I lifted the head. 
Arp head studs,
Metal head gasket,
k24
giles pump,
28x12x3 FMIC,
30 pounds of boost

The thing was a real monster for those three miles, but i don't know what to do now!  I have a feeling its because I followed the directions on the head studs to the "t".  The directions called for only torquing to 65ft./lbs which seems whicked low to me...What do you guys think?  Can I just re-torque, or should I get a new metal hg and send the studs in for warentee?

[lord_verminaard]

Re-torque those bastards to about 100 ft-lbs and run it! 

With a metal head gasket, I wouldn't think you would have blown it so it's probably safe to re-torque and go.

Brendan

[gilligan5000]

haha ok, thats what I wanted to hear.  She is going to be apart for a bit anyway.  I don't know why I thought I would give a stock clutch a try...that was just bad rational.

[gilligan5000]

anyone else want to chime in?  Thoughts?

[truckinwagen]

just torque it back down to 100 ft-lbs, the worst that will happen is that it does not seal, the best it will.

as for the clutch, the stock one really is poor.
I am thinking about using a GTI(210MM) clutch on my new motor as I have the flywheel for one lying around.

[gilligan5000]

Yeah...I think I may just spend some money and go with clutchnet.  Here is the youtube video from the testruns... you can kinda hear it slippiing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP5RSh1Rp8U

a lot of that "smoke" was build up soot in the downpipe from before...its a little cleaner now 

[jack's lack]

I'm rebuilding an AAZ now and getting ready to swap it in my rabbit. I was thinking I was going to need to baby it for a few thousand miles until it gets all broken in. Apart from the headgasket issue isn't it bad news to run 30PSI on a fresh engine?

[rallydiesel]

I torqued my ARP's to 100 ft lbs. That's with the metal HG. I would even go 110.

[zukgod1]

110' lbs here, was holding 35lbs no problems and still going strong.

We torqued Marks to 120 I think.. I say we I was just standing there watching 

[gilligan5000]

110' lbs here, was holding 35lbs no problems and still going strong.

We torqued Marks to 120 I think.. I say we I was just standing there watching 

hahaha, you guys using the "moly" lube or just 30 weight oil for those numbers?

[53 willys]

110' lbs here, was holding 35lbs no problems and still going strong.

We torqued Marks to 120 I think.. I say we I was just standing there watching  

hahaha, you guys using the "moly" lube or just 30 weight oil for those numbers?

thats lots of moly!! on both sides of the washers and in the nuts....lots of lube.

BTW my studs are cranked to 110.....120 would scare me!

[smutts]

Lets us know at which number you get an ominous "SNAP!" sound.

Some designs of engine blocks are more flexible than one would imagine. Blocks and their bores can get pulled out of shape by big head bolt/stud loads. This can make the ring sealing a bit more of a challenge. Some race shops use a thick dummy casting that pretends to be a cylinder head which is bolted/ studded to the block with a head gasket, and then torqued to the intended settings. This should distort the block casting to somewhere near its running shape, this is then sent through the boring and honing machine which cuts the bores nice and round. Everything is dismantled, bores go nasty and oval, the engine is built up with a head, torqued up, bores go nice and round again.

Amazing what people think of. Anyone here ever bothered with this?

[87octane]

Yup, varies greatly block by block, alum vs. cast, or in the case of aircooled's: barrel by barrel. The technique is called "torque plate" and is essential in most gassers. Cast iron diesel blocks from Germany have lots of beef, and may be more impervious than most other blocks out there, but a torque plate sure can't hurt, ever. And there's a higher level of OCD nowadays, heating the block to operating temp (say 200 deg F) during a torque plate bore and hone by running hot coolant throught the block and heating the cutting oil for the Sunnen machine. That's round!! And expensive. Gotta find a good race shop to do it right and you'll probably have to pay to have a torque plate custom fabbed for your block. Needless to say, you can buy off the shelf torque plates for the most common V8's. Air cooled barrels for VW and Corvair don't even come out round UNLESS you torque plate them and even then they squirm around during thermal cycling (i.e only sealed when cold or only sealed when warm, makes you want to claw your eyes out...)

[gilligan5000]

idunno guys...honestly at 30 pounds is a little compression loss really worth all that?

[Jay]

Just make sure the head bolt bores are clear and crud free 

Clicky here to see an experiment someone on another board done