XF EFI Head Bolts

yeah right

New member
Anyone know if these are supposed to be reusable - I was told they are but one of mine broke when torquing the head down :oops: - at a pitiful 55lb-ft too - and it looked fine - must have annealed over time - which makes me suspicious of the rest.

Anyone know who sells an aftermarket set (I'm in NZ but that doesn't matter - I have a couple of people who can get them & send them over from Oz)

Thanks in advance.
 
Welcome. Are you a Kiwi, or just lost. LOL!

Best advice: PM AlloyDave first. Been there, done that. A Kiwi man..an Aucklander!. I'm a Dunedin boy. Here's my advice.

1. Never reuse the bolts if you can help it. They are a poorer grade boron steel than the best studs you can buy, and they tend to yield over time. Head gasket failure on Fords is mainly related to a lack of corrosion inhibitor, sand casting stuff ups, or the head bolts yielding. Ford finally saw the light in 2002 with the upgrade of the bolt spec from this time honoured material to something better with the AU III spec. I'm not sure if it fits the pre OHC machines. Ford spend millions on development on these things. If it's done to spec, it should work okay. I've never had a problem with mine.

2. However, it's possible that re-using them will not result in failure if you lubricate the threads with a proper sealer, and partial torque and realease 5 or 6 times. Then a retorque to factory specs some time later. Could go through a couple of rocker gaskets, but it's the best way. Remember, a bolt is in streach, and any thing you do to reduce the friction co-effiecient between the threads and block will help the bolt reach its designed clamping pressure on the head. There is less risk in bolt yield if the bolt is lubricated. Dry, uncoated fasteners use up about 85% of the applied torque to just fight friction between the male and female threads. That's wasted effort and heat...feel the bolts after torquing a dry 7/16" bolt to 105 lb-ft. OUCH!!. Too much sealer creates a swimming pool of stuff which is even worse. Smaller amounts of thread sealer, and more repititions of moderate loading of the bolts has shown huge increases in the clamping load on the head to block interface.

3.There are no specs for any other method of using Truck-style shop techniques on an engine with a composite head gasket. There are stretch gauges and even anglar loading like diesel mechanics do. Both are easy to do if you talk to a diesel mechanic, but its better to get the Sedegins Truck and Auto Parts manual from Auckland ph (09) 256 1120 , or talk to
Alloy Dave. Most good engine builders have a safety first approach. The last 12 off the stock Ford 7/16", 108mm long bolts cost me over 8 bucks each, and there's little change on a couple of Kiwi Red notes. There are ARP bolts such as the Cleveland but they are 1/2 inch, and the 289-302 Windsor arp 154-4001 look like a good prospect if $5 each plus gst lookes ok, but I don't think ARP a stretch/torque recomendation for it.
 
Gidday fellow Kiwi ,the head bolts are reuseable and do not use a angular
torque method. Any cause of friction in the bolt will cause a false reading
on your torque wrench and result in insufficent clamping load ...blown headgasket. Clean all the threads on a wire wheel ,blow out all block treads ,run a tap in hole threads ,blow out again,lubricate threads and underside of bolt head (dont use to much as they can hydrulic in the hole.
do the retorque in three stages in the normal bolt up pattern.
Start at 68 Nm then 82Nm then 95Nm .A lot of headgaskets are a non-retorque style ,but for saftey run the engine up a couple of times to get the head to heat up and cool ,then do a quick check of torques .Some old alloy heads can go soft over time and can suffer from thermal relaxation . The head should be 65 brinell on a hardness tester.
If any bolts look suspect change em ,as for buying them maybe Segedins but i think they will be a Ford spare part (if there still available)and as XECUTE sais there expensive .
Any way where you at Kiwi .
cheers dave
 
FYI - the head's off because it was corroded in the back water gallery - leaking water into the #6 cylinder when sitting - pumping the water out when running - it's been welded & fully re-co'd - not that there's much to reco on a non OHC...

XECUTE
I've seen a lot of your posts on FordForums - and trust your judgement since everything you've ever said makes good logical sense - not some of the black magic theorys that some people post.....

The only problem with going to studs is fitting/removing the head - I haven't checked for sure - but I seem to remember there's a air-con pipe on the firewall above the head - so I may not be able to fit/remove the head without removing that which would not be good for economy.

ALLOYDAVE
I did all that preparation & as for re-checking the torque I'll do that too despite my annoyance at having to remove the throttlebody to do it. Those torque settings are the one's I was gonna use - so that's reassuring.

I tried Segedins - nothing listed - they do the ACL gasket sets - might have to be a Ford only job for new bolts if I go that way - which is likely.

BTW I'm in Manurewa - where are you?

Thanks for all that info guys - I'm not sure which way to go - I think I'll mull over it for a few day's - but I must say that with what's been said here it now seems like a bit of a gamble reusing the old bolts for a measly $200 NZ Peso's & I don't really have the time to be pulling the head off frequently anyway - not when there's fishing to be done!!!
 
HEY DUDE ,im in pakuranga .Let me know if you need gaskets i can tee them up at APPCO in manukau or papkura .Theres a couple of types of
head sets available for the xf ,has yours go the push on positive style
stem seals or the old mushroom type .i can get the permaseal graphite type head sets P/N DN160GP or a standard set DN161MT (with positive stem seals . Let me know what you need ill get some good prices for ya.
BTW where you do ya fishing ,im into landbase mostly or out of my mates inflatable .mostly in the far north ,matauri bay ,cape karikari ,doubtless bay and have just done a trip out to cape maria van diemen ,now thats a awsome place but a long walk after a long drive.

cheers dave
 
Jolly north islanders. You play by the rules. My mates are A-grade shot -fire-ers form mines and quarries. Power Jel is the best for fishing...plenty for the whanau... :wink:

yeah right said :-
The only problem with going to studs is fitting/removing the head - I haven't checked for sure - but I seem to remember there's a air-con pipe on the firewall above the head - so I may not be able to fit/remove the head without removing that which would not be good for economy.

XE and XF's were beggars like that. You may not have to remove the AC unit itself, which is nested under the alternator on the bottom right of the car. Yuk. The line is flexable though, I know, I have one poking out of my spares box, and I keep covering it up mith my V6 Cortina radiator. The egr line is the other thing, most Kiwi XF's were imported for a time, not local assembly, and egr was sometimes fitted. EGR is easy to unhook.

Head gaskets. But it's as bad as it gets with Fords.

Hang in there!
 
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