Sun Nov 29, 2009 10:16 pm by pan957
Harley sez to not retorque head gaskets?? Why - I don't know Here's what I do
Put Napa gasket sealer [blue stuff in the tin can with a brush] on cylinder stud threads,very lightly oil the bottom of the headbolts where they contact the head. torque the heads in a cross X pattern 5 ft lbs at a time until 20 ft lbs is hit. Continue torquing the heads in 2 ft lb increments [x pattern]until 42 ft lbs is attained. Assemble the intake/carb and start the bike with a remote gas bottle. Direct 2 household fans [on high] at 45 degree angles to the engine. Run the engine until it reaches operating temp. Shut the engine down but leave the fans on until the engine is dead cold. Retorque the heads using offset/dogbone wrenches starting at 30 ft lbs in 2ft lb increments [X pattern] until you hit 42 ft lbs. [You have to use a math table that come with the dogbones so you can correctly set you torque wrench, Don't Over torque!!] Assemble the bike and ride!!
A few things noted:
Install all head and basegaskets dry.
The Napa gasket sealer acts as a lube for torquing and sealer. If you heavily oil the studs the oil will run down the studs & contaminate the base gasket before you can properly torque the head.
HD sez to torque the heads front- back. Don't do it!! Try this test. Put a dial indicator on the head as you torque . It will lift the head .030-.045. on the untorqued side. On HD factory videos it shows the factory torquing the headbolts all at once with a 4 socket pneumatic special tool.
I don't know where the hell they got the front/back torque procedure. Don't do it!!
You must retorque the head after start up!! HD Evo engines grow .080-.090 when they reach full operating temperature. When you retorque you always find 1 or 2 loose headbolts!!
DO NOT be lazy and try to torque the heads in more than 2 ft lb increments from 20 ft lbs to 42 ft lbs. You run the danger of snapping a stud!!
This procedure takes a little more time but its worth it in the long run.
