replacing head bolts?

[floydiancomplex]

In the past when I have changed head gaskets on other cars the manual
always says to get new head bolts due to stretching. The festiva manual
mentions nothing about this so I am asking anyone who has changed
a head gasket if they reused the old bolts or bought new ones. If using
old were there any problems with leakage? Thanks - Chris

[Tim]

A lot of people (myself included) have reused the bolts with no problems.

I don't think you can even buy new ones.


Tim

[warlocke]

the ones that must be replaced were designed that way, it susposedly prevents snapping bolts but i dont buy it lol. just the way the motor is designed

[roycehof]

Replacing Head Bolts is a pretty recent thing since the problems encountered with Honda and Toyota head gaskets (A relatively big problem in the late 80's and early 90's). Those bolts may stretch and fatigue. I don't think Mazda engines suffer this malady. You can do a search in google but I think you will find that Mazda don't require Head Bolt replacement.

[josephfpu]

I replaced my head bolts with old ones and it was fine. Maybe for some more aggressive engine like one from a gsxr 1000 motorcycle.

[FestYboy]

you DO NOT replace the stock head bolts. these are NOT torque to yield bolts. torque to yield bolts require you to torque to spec and THEN turn another 1/2 turn or so (depends on manufacture); this pulls the bolts to about 95+% of their limit. since you do not do this to B series motors, you can reuse these bolts.

[floydiancomplex]

Thanks for the response guys, I'll just used the old ones. I checked with Autozone and Advance, they cannot even
get them. FMS has them, I think he said 80 for the set. - Chris