V8 head bolt sheared

badger will probably answer this! ;)

following his advice i just fitted composite gaskets to a 3.9 - and found that the composite gasket doesnt even have holes in for the 4 outer bolts - so you cannot fit them even loosely. I am using 10 standard bolts (non stretch as used on the engine when it had tin gaskets and 14 bolts). The unused ones are still cluttering up my shed!

Yeah, it had composite gaskets fitted, so I'll be replacing them with the same - I can't remember for sure, but I'm fairly sure the new ones I have (Britpart) have holes for the outer bolts. Doesn't mean they need to be filled mind you :)

Cheers,

AndyC.

I got elring ones. Instructions in the pack said to use 10 bolts and they obviously enforce this by not putting the holes in the gasket!

Badger also keeps saying to leave them out..

so i'd leave them out. I was going to just put mine in the holes by hand to keep dirt/water out but couldnt even do that in the end.

DO NOT use stretch bolts, they are the spawn of the devil on these engines - the single highest cause of blown head gaskets on later engines! It will do no harm to leave the outer row of 4 out completely on both heads, or even the broken one in place, simply torque the remaining 10 to the book figure of 65lbft in the order shown.

Inboard 9 3 1 6 8 Outboard 7 5 2 4 10

Clean the bolt threads well with a wire brush making sure any old sealant (not required) is removed then torque in stages, initially to about 20lbft, then 35 then 50 then 65. Leave for half an hour and retorque to 65 to allow for any compression within the gasket. Some aftermarket gaskets will compress slightly initially, hence the reason for re-checking. If you do fit the remaining outers, torque to 20lbft after the retorque on the others in the following order - 13 11 12 14. Badger.

Thannks Badger - that's what I wanted to hear. I'll give the stretch bolts a miss and go with your recommendations for the other bolts and torquing down. I've no doubt the Britpart gaskets will compress - normally I'd use genuine head gaskets, but I'm planning to take the heads off again over winter, hence the cheapos.

Cheers,

AndyC.

On or around Sat, 08 Sep 2007 00:27:28 -0700, AndyC enlightened us thusly:

I had one shear flush with the block, once. If you want to remove it, get a largeish nut (about 14mm thread), put it over the hole and mig weld the bit of old bolt that's stuck in the hole to it. Chances are it'll come out - If the welded-on nut breaks off, then repeat the procedure with another nut if necessary. The heat of welding will normally dislodge it.

I'll maybe give that a shot at some point - the bolt isn't doing any harm, but it's one of those things that niggles me!

Cheers,

AndyC.