well, i've gotten all my parts in, my head back from crutchfield ( decked .07, valve job, 150 springs, valve seals with hats, valve spring holds down the seal so it cannot raise up during high rpms.. and o ringed.) will be installing this weekend, and have a few questions.

bottom tapping- i understand using thread cuttign oil, lightly, tapping to the bottom slowly and cleaning out the hole with air and shop vac.

arp says a retorque isn't needed, but with the head being o ringed, will it need to be retorqued? i need my truck back this weekend, so i was thinking taking them to 125 ft lbs in 3 stages, getting it warm, letting it cool, re torquing, then beating on it. anyone had any experiences with this?

will be using a .010 gasket, so my compression will be slightly lower.

 

i would do exactly what you have stated above.

 

I've heard mixed reviews about retorquing hot. I personally torqued it once, waited over night torqued again. Reassembled the engine. Started to full warm. Drove around fairly hard and drove a lot. Stopped left over night retorqued in the morning. Maybe dropped 5 pounds max. That was with 625 arp's torqued to 150-155. Hot retorques seem sketchy they turn a lot more and I worry about wrecking the block or something. Held 65 or more psi of drive pressure on a cummins .01 over stock gasket. Just some input. If you oring it id definetly re torque a couple times after the first couple cycles

 

All the arp studs I put in are torqued cold per arp's instructions. Torque cycle the studs 3 times with a final torque to 125 and that's it. Have yet to have a gasket failure.

 

alright, well i think i will take it to 125, heat cycle, ( let it idle till warm, then cool completely) put the torque wrench on the nuts and tighten back to 125.. i guess i'll do this 3 times. i've heard some people say when you retorque, you take the nut completely off, add more lube then take back to 125.. i think that would loosen all the pressures, but im not sure. someone chime in..

 

A re torque is how you described it back one nut at a time off, re lube, than re torque to 125

 

ARP says don't re-totque, i have done a bunch and never had any problems with them holding and a few were upwards of 80psi. What kind of gasket you using? copper, MLS or what that makes a big difference.

 

truck is back together. torqued all the studs to 125, took a break, then retorqued to 125. (broke a nut free, screwed the stud back down, more lube, then to 125.) put it back together. runs good, but theres a ticking sound. can hear it at the stack, under the truck, and it's very faint under the hood. probably because of the loud pump, engine running etc. gonna check all the valves tomorrow and see if the studs have moved. if anyone else has had this problem or thinks they know what it is, let me know. its a new head, head was shaved .07, running a .010 gasket, o ringed, 150 valve springs, stock push rods, full valve job..

 

Did you re check valve lash after the final torque?

 

You know what, after I did myn I noticed a slight ticking aswell. Didn't seem detrimental to the truck, check lash multiple times and all was close enough to spec. Just ignore it and nothing bad has come from it. Probably 5000km or so on the hg. Perhaps something to do with the valve job. I'm re doing my hg when I get it Cammed so I'll know after that if anything changes again.