Strange Head Gasket Tightening Sequence

Interesting. It might be to 'stretch' the bolts so they don't stretch after tightening the final time.

Pulsar was a cool little car. Did you get the Kammback option?

My guess is that pre-stretching the bolts makes them slightly more elastic. You're also pre-flattening the gasket which may make the final torquing more stable. I'd follow the instructions carefully.

I would guess it is due to the composition of the gasket material. The idea of tightening a head in the correct sequence of steps is to spread the load on the gasket evenly. They probably discovered experimentally that doing it twice produced fewer head gasket leaks/blowouts. That would be because the gasket ends up more densely compressed.

-jim

The answer to this is no. There is more than one way that manufacturers have specified to torque head bolts. This one is not a standard method.

Thanks for the reply. Well considering the car has 170,000 miles on it, I probably don't have to worry about "stretching" the bolts since they have already gone through literally tens of thousands of expansion/contraction cycles as part of normal driving in the last 24 years we've owned it. However, I will follow the sequence just in case it has something to do with compressing the head gasket material. To answer your question, no, it does not have the Kammback option. With the sharp nose and fold-down lights in the front , the car is already pretty aerodynamic so not sure how much improvement the Kammback would offer. It definitely changes the cars look though!

I would check the manual and make sure it specifically says you can re-use the old bolts.

--scott

I wouldn't reuse old bolts, esp with 170,000 miles on them. Get new ones.

And the Kammback was a factory option: you remove the hatch and bolt the squareback in it's place. Sure wish they made these now! I could use one!