So my 96 neon is all apart, clean, ready to go back together, picked up all the parts and gaskets, but noticed that the head bolts are labelled for a 95-00 2.0L DOHC, I have a SOHC, I know they use the same block, but different head profiles... Can you use DOHC head bolts on the SOHC, when I called the parts place, they said sure, they gave them to me on purpose as DOHC bolts are $30, and the fel-pro SOHC are $62 and a different part number? My short SOHC botls are about 1/2 inch shorter than the DOHC long bolts... does not look right to me at all??

 

since the parts are different (which they are autozone # ES72166 for dohc head boltsand # ES72157 for sohc head bolts) and you have longer bolts I wouldnt do it. if they were shorter - it wouldnt be so bad. but they're longer. no use risking an engine over $30 right?

 

if the dohc bolts are longer, then they are that way for a reason...
just get the sohc bolts if you wanna be safe

 

I agree, use whats supposed to go in there so you know you got correct torque, I heard some head gasket problems were from too long of bolts from the factory that bottomed out before they could clamp the head. and they leaked like a sieve from the factory or were destined to at least. The fix on these applications with the faultybolts was to grind off a 16th of an inch on one or 2of the bolts. It wasn't so much that the bolts were too long it was that the holes in the block were not tapped deep enough in some blocks prior to 1998.

 

thanks guys... I knew there were some design changes to the head gasket, but just could not get my head around a 2 inch change in the bolts... back for the right ones... this time, I will demand the right part number, not what they think.