retorque heads to solve issue?

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It's always best to read thy directions.
Per Brodix installation instructions. ( a re-torque after initial warm up IS desired, allow engine to cool 12 hours before re-torque )
 
Good god, it seems some of you guys on this place will argue about the color of the sky, to say there is an absolute with this stuff is rediculous. I have seen this happen and cometic will tell you straight up that it does and to retorque, they will also say you should be fine with one torque. Most guys probably don't even notice the light seepage especially if their race engine is black. I will say after my experience and talking to cometic my cometics get retorqued, to the op, if it is the head gasket then call cometic and listen to the guys who made the thing lol.
 
My engine is scheduled for a dyno session on Saturday Nov 6th and the dyno guy wants my engine there on Thursday so he can set it up then do a breakin / heat cycle run on Friday then Saturday morning we will retorque heads before the actual session.

Question popped into my head today ... do you loosen the intake before you retorque the heads ?
 
mbaird said:
My engine is scheduled for a dyno session on Saturday Nov 6th and the dyno guy wants my engine there on Thursday so he can set it up then do a breakin / heat cycle run on Friday then Saturday morning we will retorque heads before the actual session.

Question popped into my head today ... do you loosen the intake before you retorque the heads ?
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Yes. One at a time.
 
Yes, no re-torque.
Worst thing you can do with MLS or shim steel gasket is back off the fastener & 're-torque'. Cometic & probably others use a very thin polymer coating to seal the finished surfaces. You risk breaking that seal & getting a leak by backing off the tq.
 
Bewy said:
Yes, no re-torque.
Worst thing you can do with MLS or shim steel gasket is back off the fastener & 're-torque'. Cometic & probably others use a very thin polymer coating to seal the finished surfaces. You risk breaking that seal & getting a leak by backing off the tq.
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You should probably call the guys that make them and see what they have to say before you comment since that is EXACTLY what they recommend. :BangHead:
 
Bewy said:
Where is the link?
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Call cometic and talk to the tech guys, it's really that simple. I said that in my post above, they can seep for a few different reasons and when they do cometic says to just break the torque on the bolt and retorque one head bolt at a time, straight from the tech dept.
tel:440-354-0777
 
Nowhere on the Cometic website does it say to re-tq their head gaskets. They tell you to tq to the manufacturers specs.
 
I've talked to "tech guys" at Comp Cams that say it's ok to run a new cam with used lifters. Sometimes you need a second opinion.

I'm not saying the guy at Cometic is wrong. I'm saying if it was ME, I'd get a second opinion from some different. As in maybe a supervisor or some such.

....or just retorque the heads. ...and good luck!
 
All the cometics I've ordered, the deck finish was the only mention from anyone on the phone. They all said to just torque ot to spec and if I wanted I could use copper coat..but they liked them installed dry.

That said, for the 10th time, Re torque if you want. We aren't arguing that, we are arguing the fact that re torquing is not a required operation.. by not only the manufacturer..but by the entire automotive gasket industry.
Torque them again, torque them 4 times if ya want. Worst that will happen is they'll leak more..best..they'll leak less , or stop.
Whatever works for YOU is what works.
 
One more time for the guys who can’t learn. When the head gaskets are weeping like the OP’s, you retorque the fasteners. That is per Cometic. Not one of you here knows more about gaskets and sealing than Cometic. MoparOfficial just loves to muck up the discussion by asking stupid things like retorque from the inside out. Answer is it doesn’t matter. Pick one and start from there. It’s as simple as that.
 
Bewy said:
Nowhere on the Cometic website does it say to re-tq their head gaskets. They tell you to tq to the manufacturers specs.
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Brodix does, as well as many other aluminum head manufactures.
but then again the old man taught me to re-torque all the bolts holding a gasket on an engine after initial cool down.
I'm starting to see a pattern here as to why many suffer from blown head gaskets and leaky intakes.
 
One more time for YR...

The manufacturer does not print or state to re torque them. Go look it up.

You can re torque if you want... but consider this....if your gaskets leak... you installed them wrong or had inadequate deck finish to begin with.



To my friend 67, No leaks here.
 
MOPAROFFICIAL said:
One more time for YR...

The manufacturer does not print or state to re torque them. Go look it up.

You can re torque if you want... but consider this....if your gaskets leak... you installed them wrong or had inadequate deck finish to begin with.



To my friend 67, No leaks here.
Click to expand...

Best machine, who has an outstanding reputation building Mopar engines, built my 422 W5 motor. They used cometic gaskets.
Motor was 13 to 1, X block
They never mentioned retorque the heads after i got it running, so i never did. Zero failures, beat on it for years, had it freshened, beat on it more.
If people feel the need, do so. But based on my experiences over a really long period of time racing smallblocks, have never re snugged up a head, ever. Maybe i am just lucky
 
I had never had to retorque head gaskets either until I had some seepage from my latest set of cometics. It was barely noticeable (drove around for three years until I noticed it) I only noticed it from the dust collecting on the light haze of oil and it looked just like the ops. Called cometic and they told me that happens sometimes and it can be the finish of head or block (mine were finished correctly), aluminum heads on cast iron block moving around, or just because lol.

I also mentioned the overhang of an aluminum head on a small block mopar and it putting pressure down on the rivet and "flexing" the gasket down slightly and they said it wouldn't hurt to drill out the rivet. They recommended the retorque and said it may work right away, take a while to work or always seep lol. They also said it will not affect the engine so I figure it may be something I just live with and wipe my block down once a year instead of never in three years.

I remember way back in auto shop it was a common practice to check/retorque head bolts after break in, seemed like an industry standard at the time. That supposedly went away with better head gaskets but as we all know in this hobby it aint always the case.
 
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For the guys with head gaskets weeping oil, where do you think it’s coming from? The lifter galley? It makes more sense to me that if it was going to weep it would be coolant.

Guess I’ve been lucky, built my first small block in 1977 and several more over the years. Big blocks too and have never had a head gasket weep or blown for that fact. The only one I have ever retorqued is my current 434.
 
Just my take on this re torque issue. What I think really happens when one re torques is, the process of loosening then re tightening the head bolt results in the threads and under bolt head area becoming burnished and a better fit together. That means that more of the torque put into the bolt goes into clamp load and less is lost to thread and under head friction. I say that as I really doubt that the gasket itself moves and somehow better positions it self. Think about it, all of the other head bolts are still tight on a static non running engine. How is the gasket going to move. I think it is better clamp load due to an improvement in thread and under head bolt fit.
I will go a step more and say that if you need to re torque head bolts you should look closely at how you are prepping the head bolts and block threads prior to assembly as well as evaluate the kind and quantity of thread lube being used as well as the accuracy and repeatability of your torque wrenches. Re torquing may be fixing an issue, but that issue did not need to occur and could have been prevented with better assembly practices.
 
I know if I had an engine with cometic head gaskets on it, and there was a seepage issue....... I’d retorque the bolts and hope it solved the problem.
 
Don’t want to muddy this anymore than it already is, it’s oil and grit? The only oil passage that the head gasket seals is 1/3 of the way back on the head. So you think oil is seeping out of the combustion chamber? I re-torque after it sits 24 hours. Always get a bit more on the nut. Much less with cometic gaskets. I don’t think there is any downside to re-torquing them one at a time in sequence. I think this is a non-issue performance wise. If it is very slight combustion gas seepage it will probably stop after carbon fills in whatever passage it is seeping through. Run it. There are much more probable sources for the oil. China wall,power steering? Belt dust. Front cover gasket. Front seal weeping and getting slung all over.
 
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