head bolt retorque question.

[AllJackedUp]

I am going to bust the head bolts loose one at a time then retorque to 80lb ft. After that is done my manual says to install the rocker arms and posts in their orignal positions. Apply grease to the valve stem tips. Turn the engine over by hand until the timing mark is at the 11o'clock postion as viewed from the front. install the rocker arm posts, bolts, and torque to 27 lb ft.

my question is, what timing mark are they referring to? Is it the alinment dowel in the injector pump drive gear. Thats the only thing i can think of since it doesn't mention having the front cover off the engine to see the other timing marks.

BTW this is on the 85' in my sig.

 

[Kevin 007]

There is a timing mark on the crankshaft, harmonic balancer. Rotate crank till that mark is in the 11:00 position first before you do anything and just leave it there and go about your work. Good idea on re-torquing the 6.9 head. yes do one at a time, in sequence. don't forget to "crack" each one loose first as it will be kinda stuck and would give you a false reading if you were to just apply torque right away. So...crack it loose then re-torque. Then move to the next bolt, in sequence. You will be surprised with how much they will turn before reaching your torque setting.

 

[icanfixall]

So from what you are posting here the valve covers are off and you are planning to remove the rockers. If so please leave the pushrods in the engine because they have a direction of installation. The copper colored ball is the hardened ball and it MUST be on the rocker. The bottom soft ball will wear thru the rocker if you install it up. Usually any rocker use rubbing on the colored ball wears off the copper color and you have no idea which end is up or down. Why are you retorqueing the head bolts...

 

[subway]

might be a dumb question but to "break" the bolts loose should you go tighter or loosen? i would "assume" tighter but you know what can happen when you assume

 

[stumiister]

If you are going to reak the bolts loose, then you would want to turn the tool to the left until the bolt is loose enough that you can turn it by hand, then retorque it to spec, A good thing to remember is righty tighty lefty loose, or clockwise to tighten counterclockwise to loosen unless your working with left hand thred bolts then all that is backwards.

 

[hesutton]

Why retorque them?

Heath

 

[OLDBULL8]

Too BREAK anything, it comes apart.

 

[AllJackedUp]

icanfixall- i have read from several member that it's a good idea to retorque a 6.9 head once in its lifetime, so i'm doing it now, and yes i will leave the push rods right where they are.

Jred- no i loosened the bolts to break them loose, then torque to spec.

 

[hesutton]

My two cents, if you don't have any headgasket issues currently, leave it alone. I looked at this issue when rebuilding my 6.9. Victor Rienz and ARP specifically state that no retorque is necessary on the heads. Plus, the threads on the headbolts are long dry and the torque reading will certainly be inaccurate with dry and likely corroded threads.

Heath

 

[typ4]

^^^^^^ What he said. 100%

 

[subway]

^^^^^^ What he said. 100%

what Heath said?

 

[Kevin 007]

If you are going to reak the bolts loose, then you would want to turn the tool to the left until the bolt is loose enough that you can turn it by hand, then retorque it to spec, A good thing to remember is righty tighty lefty loose, or clockwise to tighten counterclockwise to loosen unless your working with left hand thred bolts then all that is backwards.

No don't loosen till you can turn it by hand! Just loosen it a 1/4 turn or so to break it free from where it has been for the past 26 years. At this point, you can apply torque and get an accurate reading without it begin hung up in its somewhat stuck position...which would cause the wrench to click and all the while you didn't actually apply any more torque to it.


And the 6.9 was factory recommended to be re-torqued at 30,000miles after leaving the lot. Of course not many got done. Which may or may not be a contributing factor to head gasket failure later in life. I always re-torque any 6.9 that I get and the bolts always take a 1/4 turn at least until they reach their factory torque spec. And when people ask "why" I say "why not?" Whats the point of running aroung with head bolts that are not up to their torque spec?? You are asking for a gasket failure or at least leakage. I have re-torqued a few cummins 220's and 350's, some 425 and 300 CAT's and some E6 Macks all of which were million mile engines and you could actually see compression gasses seeping out the head gasket with each compression stroke when the engines were idling. The head bolts have streached over all those miles and would take up to a full turn or more before the achived their specs again!!!
And once its done once, they pretty much stay put. My 84 that I recently bought, has 180,000km on it and has never been touched; so as soon as the weather warms up, it will get re-torqued and I won't worry about it again.

 

[hesutton]

Not seen the Ford stuff on retorque, but Victor Rienz state their IDI (Nitroseal) headgaskets don't need to be retorqued. Those are the gaskets I used. I didn't use the factory head bolts, but ARP also doesn't recommend retorque on the 6.9 either. With that said, I will repeat the final line sequence on the heads until none of the nuts move anymore. Meaning, at the final line sequence, if even one nut turns before 80 ft/lbs is reached, the entire line sequence is repeated. Once I can go through the sequence without a nut moving prior to 80 ft/lbs, I stop and let it be. I do the same for the intake and exhaust manifolds as well. Plus, I use ARP's Ultra-Torque thread lube on all contact surfaces to get the torque as accurate as I can.

Not wanting to argue with ya. Everyone has their preferences. Not saying retorquing is wrong........ it's just not right for me.

Heath

 

[AllJackedUp]

thanks for everyone's input.

 

[icanfixall]

Alljackedup... There are many opinnions found here. Those that know have simplfied it clearly. This is not something Ford or International recommend to do. Many of the knowers here wont recommend you remove on head bolt and replace it with a stud either... But members do this anyway. The members here are only trying to explain what can happen. You comment about "I have been talking to some of the members here about retorqueing my head bolts". Thats not in dought but its clearly advice given freely either way. About 2 years ago a member installed a new Banks sidewinder wastegated turbo but could not get the main oil gallery plug out of the block.. So he used a port on the rear oil cooler header bundle.. That oil has not been thru the filter yet. I personally pm him twice but got no comment. So I posted it on the open thread he had started about this plug problem... Still no responce. Not even a mind your own business. So its a dropped issue. Then he travels from vegas to the east coast and we all watched the trip on sattelitte gps... He lost boost just about 400 miles from home... Out in the middle of the desert... A quick post asking for help and to figure out what was happening. Plenty had answers but not one person told him... I told you so. This is a family forum. We tend to treat members better than we **** ourselves. Please do not take offence to the do not do this. Its not personal. Its from long years of hands on experiance talking to you as if your a family member. You may have noticed I make no suggestion about retorqueing or not retorqueing. Your determined to do it. I aplaud your decision to do what you want against the norms here. May you susceed in this and it works out for you but please post back with any good or bad issues. Its the only way things change. Someone has to do the bunny rabbit tests. I'll bet not many here will know what that test used to mean many years ago....