Problems with XE Head bolts AHHHHHHHH

[Alex Mac]

Has anyone experienced problems with XE heads bolts pulling away from the block, as far as I am aware it seems to be not a common fault with the pre 92 XE engines, I could not believe it I had just started the car after the rebuild, and bang away it went, coolant leaks ahhhhh, of course you think the worst,

What do you all think are the torque setting for an XE a bit over the top

STAGE 1---18 LB/FT 25NM
STAGE 2---65 DEG
STAGE 3---65 DEG
STAGE 4---65 DEG
and again STAGE 5---AFTER WARM UP?30 DEG-45 DEG

Myself and the engine builder were just talking about this yesterday after the incident, I don't know if we were at fault or not, Ricky the engine builder as been building XE engines for 10 years now and it has only happened to him 2 times, well 3 now

But we torqued them to the letter,

We are going to try a resolve the problem tonite by trying a stud and nut conversion by QED, this should hopefully allow us to insert the stud deeper into the block, away from the damaged threads then torque the nut instead, failing that head off, and helly coils the the block, which I really don't fancy, not much room to work in a valver nova

I hope non of you ever experience this because it is a nightmare, Cheers for listening, I am now going to curl up in a corner and have a wee cry now

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[_Ben_]

I can tell you now that SBD dont bother with Stage 5 (if you ask them in person that is)

Cheers.

[Ste_Nova]

i do

25
90
90
90

[krobinson]

It was quite an almighty bang wasnt it alex?

Hope the kit sorts your problem and you dont have to strip the engine back out!

Keith

[Alex Mac]

Fingers crossed the ARP Stud and Nut Kit has done the job so far

But on reading the enclosed doc, we found the required torque is only

70 lb/sft max with ARP Lube

So Stage 1 - 20 lb torgue
Stage 2 - 60 lb torque
Stage 3 - 70 lb torque

Was I glad to see the lower torque settings, bit less work for the remaining threads

Fair play to QED, I spoke to them on Wed at 11.30am and the bolts were delivered to my house in NI at 12 noon the next day

So my advice to all the valver owners, the small mod of a ARP Stud and Nut Conversion may make all the difference, and preserve your block threads a bit, Ricky the engine builder said he will be using then from now on as they are such a quality item

I slept like a baby last nite, not like the nite before

:D :D :D