New head arriving today!

[RPMustang]

The freight co. called and my son's new Aluminum head is arriving today!!! :rolflmao:

It's going on his "basically" stock 66 200 c.i. Mustang. The only other performance mod so far is a DUI dizzy. We're also putting dual exhaust headers on when we do the head swap.

I have a few questions for those who have done this:

Since it's aluminum and we're going with studs instead of bolts, how much do I torque the nuts down?

What is the torque pattern? Start in the middle & work towards both ends?
Do I need to re-torque them a second time after torqing them all once?

Is there anything different I need to do that I wouldn't do anytime I pull & replace the head for a head gasket repair? (other than I can skip the "take it to the machine shop" step)

Any tips &/Or "gotcha's" that I might want to know about?

Thanks,
Lance Robaldo

 

[LaGrasta]

Congrats! This will wake her up!.

 

[wallaka]

Since it's aluminum and we're going with studs instead of bolts, how much do I torque the nuts down?

What is the torque pattern? Start in the middle & work towards both ends?

I'd go with stock torque settings regardless of studs or bolts, 75-80 ft-lbs. Tighten them in 3 stages, from 50 to 65 to 75. Some people advocate waiting hours between torquings, but I haven't had a problem not waiting. The pattern is as you surmised, spiraling out from the center two. After you get them to 75, no need to re-torque.

It's pretty simple, just make sure you put the gasket on right side up!

 

[ludwig]

Addo does a followup re-torque the day following the first good run, usually the next day once it's cold. Just to be sure. I'd definitely do this because, well, because Addo does it.

 

[addo]

Yes I do; old school but since the fasteners aren't TTY it's a good trick. Crack a bolt (say, half a turn) and retorque, then move onto the next in order of original torquing.

 

[ludwig]

Crack a bolt (say, half a turn) and retorque,

... to the final spec, I assume.

 

[AzCoupe]

Aluminum Head specs and comments:
http://classicinlines.com/AlumSpecs.asp

Torque sequence