Reusing head bolts for mild 440?

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DusterDale

DusterDale

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Whats folks feelings on reusing head bolts for a mild (9:1ish) 440? Id like to put that 90 dollars towards other costs if possible. Bad idea or commonly done?

Dale
 
well - I have my 408 apart and have no intention of changing the head bolts when I rebuild it - they are ARP's though. If you are upping the HP, I would suggest that $90 spent is some good insurance, especially if they are the original head bolts.
 
I'm certainly no authority on fasteners, but I have built a few engines and re-used head, main, rod, intake, etc. bolts and have never experienced a failure. I could be very lucky, though! Bolts stretch to some degree when torqued. I have a mild performance small block build in mind, and I will be using new fasteners all the way around for peace of mind. I would hate to lose a $4000 engine because I wanted to save $100.
 
The OEM bolts are good stuff, not like the throw away torque to yield stuff which have their purpose. I've had the same head bolts through two rebuilds and bore jobs with no issues. Chase the holes and clean the bolts and lube the threads. You will be fine.
 
IMO, Mic them for any stretch. Run them if none.

If you're still concerned with using them have the Magnafluxed.
 
I don't know how many times I reused the same head bolts on my racing Opel and Mitsubishi engines.... they were the old type ones, not the new TTY (torque-to-yield) types. If you don't see any obvious stretch, then you should be fine with the old Mopar bolts.
 
I use them fairly often. As long as they were not over torqued, and you clean the threads, you're fine.
 
Clean them up on a wire wheel and use em'. I would not worry unless they look crappy or you're going over 11 to 1 or using a power adder.
 
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