Congrats on the baby, I have a little girl (first kiddo) coming in October.

 

LOL. No, I really don't.

 

Congrats to you too! This is my 2nd. I've got 2 boys now and I'm throwing in the towel. My wife wanted a girl, but boys are easier and typically cheaper to raise.lol Plus having a couple strong boys to help ol dad out around the shop is always a plus. Anyways I wish you the best and take advantage of what sleep and free time you have available now. I got a pile of new parts for the truck, but no time yet to put them on! hahaha

 

Yeah i have 2 little boys and they difinitely seem to be easier to raise. My sister has 2 girls and they have been hell for her lol. Congrats and take them boys fishin often.

 

Well gentlemen, I started in on my truck and I had a intake manifold bolt break. It was the front bolt on the passenger side. So I had to pull the head off and will be taking it to a local machine shop to get it out. The head was immaculate and so was the pistons, cylinder walls, and the head gasket was also in perfect condition with no signs of leaks. I had no symptoms of a bad head gasket before I started this project. Oil was clean and no oil in my coolant. What my question is, do think it would be necessary to pull the other head off to just simply put a new head gasket on that side since I'm doing the one head? Oh, my truck only has 100k and has been babied. Also I'm OCD about maintenance on it.

 

You didn't really need to pull the head..... (yeah, NOW I tell ya. ) If you have the time, you are going to have the gasket for the other head anyway.... you can't buy just one.... Might just as well yank the other one, and have the valves and such done....... Not a requirement, but, while you are there anyway.........

 

I was kind of thinking that, but money permits. I am planning on replacing the heads by the end of the year with some new heads from either Edelbrock or Hughes. I wasn't wanting to pull the head off, but didn't see any other way to get that bolt out. I heated it, soaked it, drilled the center in an attempt to use an easy out bit but broke the bit off in the drilled hole. So after all that and ruining a couple of new bit I just figured the only way to get it out was have a machine shop do it. I would have them do a bunch of fancy work to both the heads, but with the new baby and all the money tree is kinda bare. I almost forgot, I can reus e my head bolts correct? As far as I knew they aren't TTY like the intake bolts. They are in great condition and no rust on them. Threads are all straight and unharmed too.

 

I wouldn't bother with spending the big bucks on Hughes, or Eddy heads. Odessa/Clearwater sells heads that are just as good, for half the price.

Apparently, you CAN re-use the head bolts.

 

Really? I've always heard they're TTY. ARP bolts/studs on the other hand can be reused.

 

If the bolts are torqued to a specific value, and then turned an additional X number of degrees, those are TTY bolts. If you torque them to a specific value, and yer done, they are not. According to the service manual, bolts are simply torqued to spec..... so, according to theory, they are NOT TTY.

There DOES seem to be some differences of opinion on that out there on the web. But, again, the service manual makes no mention of NOT re-using head bolts. (of course, it doesn't mention anything about it for the intake manifold bolts either......)

Going with new bolts/studs is certainly good insurance.... using head studs that are re-usable ensures the best clamping force, and distribution. They aren't hideously expensive either... seems they can be had for under 150 bucks.