Festiva Head Gasket Replacement ???

[Kindred]

No kidding. My first head job took three days because I ended up having to replace half the bolts on my exhaust manifold as they snapped while I was trying to torque them down.

[mechanicaldj]

bryanl1, you may ask the machine shop for new studs and bolts for your exhaust manifold to avoid any problems on re-assembly. due to the fact the studs/bolts erode away in the manifold.

[heavypork]

I have an 88 festiva that im doing the head gasket on, whats the torque specs for tightening the head bolts.

[getitqwik]

Torque specs head 88 festiva:

Cylinder head bolts cleaned and lightly oiled, holes cleaned:

Step one 35 to 40 Ft Lbs
Step two 56 to 60 Ft Lbs

[gdawgs]

Keep in mind that there is a sequence in which you need to tighten the bolts. Wouldn't hurt to pick up a $15 manual so you can look it over.

[heavypork]

Isnt it usually just start at the two in the middle, then the two on the right of those, then the two on the left of the middle ones... etc.

[heavypork]

Are the stock head bolts reusable? Cuz i reused them when i did my head gasket and torqued everything correctly, and somehow my oil is really milk cuz its not sealing correctly. I had the head milled to, so its not warped. Is it possible that the block is warped too... i checked for cracks and saw none. I was also thinking could i use rtv as an extra blocker?

[gdawgs]

Yes the head bolts are reusable. Have you changed the oil since you finished the job? Pretty common to have water in the oil after this.

[heavypork]

Ya i changed the oil, and its damn milky. The oil that was in there from before i changed the headgasket was much better looking than the oil thats in it now. the head was really warped when i had it resurfaced, so im thinkin it might of stretched my head bolts. I cant even find new headbolts anywhere... nobody sells them.