F type head bolt torque

As I am not familiar with what your talking about is there a picture anywhere of the valve gear?

There are special "sockets" to enable torque wrench attachment or even make one.

Just using an open end spanner is not a good idea - you will never know what torque it really is.

Even on modern cars the tightness is first torqued up then a degree wheel is used to tension the bolts a further 270 degree.

rm

Torque figures don't really exist for pre war cars, I doubt any garages possessed a torque wrench until about 1960.

This is a guess, but I wouldn't go much above 35 pound/feet unless you have changed the studs to a modern steel. So that would be a 70 pound pull on the end of a 6 inch spanner which is quite a lot, try it against a torque wrench.

Looking in "The Complete MG Workshop Manual" for instructions on replacing the head for the F-Type, I like the instruction to coat both sides of the gasket with Castile Soap. When it comes to tightening the stud nuts, it just says tighten to the order shown and after 100 miles tighten them up again.

I see what you mean about access.

Malcolm

I would suppose that one could attach a spring balance to the end of a spanner and pull with that. Working out the foot pounds in the length of spanner or extending the spanner to one foot.

You can get the specs of modern bolts.