Newbie head torque Q's

R

Rapid Robert

New Member
Head gasket was leaking out the front side & spewing fluid out the exhaust after a hard ride.. Have new F80 head gasket. Would copper coat or silver spray paint be a good idea on the gasket? How/should I check the flatness of the deck/head? What is the torque spec of the nuts? They are acorn with washers stacked underneath (original owner assembled it). What is the torque pattern, just keep crisscrossing? Should I get grade 8 open nuts? Newbie here, thank you for your time. RR
 
Factory specs are 15# but I run 20# tightening 5# at a time in a crisscross X pattern.
You can check the head for warp on piece of glass or other good flat surface, it it has any wobble you'll need to mill it, note you should always do this with your rear sprocket too, cheaper kits are infamous for warped sprockets.

You can put some copper gasket sealer on the metal gasket but if your head and cylinder are true it's not needed.
 
OK I will go to 20 ft lbs in 5lb increments in a crisscross pattern & I will check the head on a piece of glass first. I ordered a 32T sprocket to replace the 44T one that was on there for more top speed in the same order with the new gasket so I will check it before the install. I'm assuming I should stay with the closed acorn nuts that are on there? Thanks bro! RR
 
The nuts don't matter so long as you have the washers in, the cheap kit acorns are just a glued on cap to look better, go ahead and use good nuts if you have them and new lock washers, lock washers tend to flatten and not do their job as well after a couple of uses.

Glad I could help ;-}
 
You definitely helped. I could barely see daylight under 1 or 2 sides of the perimeter raised shoulder on the head on a piece of glass & a .002" feeler gauge would not fit in that gap so I continued onward. I was torquing & when I started to get to 15 on the 3rd acorn nut it stripped. I will get some new one tomorrow, an open nut Should I get a hardware store grade 5 or a good grade 8 one at the Caterpillar dealer? And will that change the torque value needed?
 
I bought 4 black 8 mm nuts at Ace hardware & decided to replace all 4 instead of just the one that was stripped. didn't know if that was the right move or not but that's what I did & I torqued em in 5 lb increments to 20lbs & to my amazement it fired right up! KC thank you very much. Now to get the 32T sprocket on there instead of the 44T one & have at it. RR
 
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