I just tried to put the heads on my 440 and had some problems. I was trying to reuse the original head bolts but 2 of them stretched luckily I stopped before they broke off. I was torquing to 70 ft lbs. I never had this happen before and I've reused head bolts a few times. I'm working with a new Craftsman click torque wrench (because I loaned my good one to a friend and he broke it) Could my new wrench be bad ? The motor had what I think are the original steel shim head gaskets on it ( they had the pentastar on them) so I thought I would be ok to reuse the bolts. I plan on ordering new head bolts should I order new head gaskets too ? or can I reuse the new felpro blue gaskets with new bolts ?

It's fine to reuse bolts & I'm surprised 70 started to twist one. Steel shim gaskets (like OE) will of course give you a slightly higher CR but they to a certain extent require flat surfaces (head/deck) & using spray Permatex copper coat or quality alum spray paint works good w them. The felpro (or other brands) composition thicker gaskets seal better on a non perfect surface(s). Might chase the threads w a "thread chasing" tap which is diff from a regular thread cutting tap (& they're cheap) and I wet threads w 30 wt eng oil then blow them off w shop air. Holler back

I chased the threads in the block and blew them out I also cleaned the threads on the bolts with a wire rush on a bench grinder. I used aviation sealer on the threads as I always have and a drop of oil under the head on the bolt before putting it in. Maybe the motor was built with a bad set of bolts. I've never had this problem before and I did everything the same. Could this be the start of the end of the world ?? hahhahahaha

It would be wise also to torque the bolts in 3 increments. 35 lbs, 55lbs then the final number. Torquing right to the limit then moving to the next bolt is never recommended.

When I torqued them I started at 30 then 50 then 70 The same as I have always done. It felt like the bolt was turning more than it should have going from 50 to 70 so I pulled the bolt out and grabbed one from the other side of the motor to finish that head and that bolt did the same thing ( stretched )

Pretty wise move. I'd rather be safe too. Did you compare bolts to see if the stretched one was longer?

Both of the bolts that stretched are long ones and I can see the stretch in the bolt just below the shank ( the unthreaded part ) or at the top of the threads not too much more and they would have snapped.

I agree just oil or ARP lube on the bolts.If I read this right you had 2 bolts in the same hole that did the same thing?If so you have a problem with that hole.One bolt might stretch but I doubt 2 would.Only thing that would cause that problem would be the hole.Rocky

Never had one stretch before, but I will generally use new ones.

Rocky, I see your point but I am interested in how a hole could make a bolt stretch.

If the bolt is bottoming out in the hole it will start to twist and stretch.Thats the only reason I can see.I can see one bolt being bad but if it was seated in another hole and was Ok and it stretched in that hole it has to be the hole.Last set of MP bolts I bought was about 15 bucks.Now I run ARPs.Rocky

Got it, the twist and stretch I see, was jsut having difficulty with a straight stretch from a hole. Yea new bolts are cheap enough and always chase the hole before assembly.

Thanks, Kevin

Both bolts that stretched had an hour glass shape ( in the stretched area) and didn't look like they twisted when they stretched at all. I did have a couple other bolts that felt like the were going to snap or felt soft while torquing but they torqued. The motor came out of a motorhome and had less than 50,000 miles on it and it was super super clean inside so I thought I could get away with reusing the head bolts. The heads were only 3 thousandths from flat before I had them checked cleaned and surfaced. Does anybody know if Napa sells head bolt for a Mopar ? or one of the other chain stores ?

I would be worried about that torque wrench unless that sealer that you used is super slick and was allowing you to over torque the bolts.

That new torque wrench does have me a bit nervous. I used and trusted my old one for 20 years and never broke a bolt with it. With the new one the first time I used I nearly broke 2 bolts. Does anybody have a way of checking torque wrenches besides taking them in to get them checked ?

I just did a test on my new torque wrench and it's actually pretty accurate I also checked my 20 year old now broken torque wrench and it's still pretty accurate. Within 2 lbs at 25 lbs and within 4 lbs at 50. I did learn that after all of the years I've used the Craftsman torque wrenches I had always set them wrong. I took the bottom of the scale as zero and the mark that said 20 as 20 but the bottom of the scale is actually 20. So all of these years I have torqued everything 20 lbs tighter than it should have been. I guess this time my luck just ran out.