putting new heads on my sbc. the new bolts just say to dip them in oil up to the hex head. nothing about sealing them. do i need to seal them? there wasn't any sealer on the old bolts. but a friend is saying seal them. just wondering why vthe directions don't call for it.
who's directions are they? i'd give them a call it would seam to me that you should out some sealer on the threads
<!-- / icon and title --><!-- message --> SBC head bolt holes don't penetrate into any water jackets, so why seal them? No need to that I'm aware of. Evidently never built a SBC. ALL the head bolts must be sealed or you will have coolant leaks everywhere.
Stock block SBC's do have open end head bolt holes into the water jackets and need a sealer on the threads and a little oil under the head. Aftermarket blocks are blind holed.....
I deleted my original post so as to not perpetuate incorrect info. What the heck was I thinking? It's been a 30+ years since I built an SBC, nothing in the shop but "oddball" engines since then.
On the GM performance parts site...... <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td> </td> <td align="center" valign="bottom"> </td><td valign="bottom"> </td> <td> </td> </tr> <tr><td> [FONT=arial,helvetica][SIZE=-1]12346004 - GM Pipe Sealant (50cc)[/SIZE][/FONT] </td><td align="center" valign="bottom"> </td><td> </td><td align="center" valign="bottom"> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table width="100%"><tbody><tr><td valign="top">[FONT=arial,] [/FONT] </td> </tr> <tr><td> [FONT=arial,helvetica][SIZE=-1] For all cylinder head bolt threads. [/SIZE][/FONT] </td></tr><tr><td colspan="5"> </td></tr></tbody></table>
Oil under the head of the bolt prevents binding while torquing the head bolts. A slight amount of sealer is needed on the threads to seal them. Also, you need sealer on the intake bolt threads. The 4 corners are the only intake bolts that have a bottom in them. This is a common mistake, it causes oil to leak from the 4 center bolts on old style SBC!
I use non hardening permatex on headbolts and intake bolts,never silicon cuz if you use silicon what do ya suppose happens to the seal when ya retorque the bolt...whammo...no more seal....jmho...
after buiding a water burning engine i went to permatex, end of problems never had any other problems
Wutter those? Tablets sold by Delco REmy to seal up yer coolin system? Do they ever plug up the works?
ok guys, i'm going to pull the one head i installed, it's only torked to 60lbs, i can go to 65/70 when i reinstall it. time to put permanix thread sealer on them.
I've heard of that before, forget what the GM part number is though, any parts counter should know it cold. I use a similar Solder Seal product on all fresh engines. I've always used either Permatex Aviation Sealer or Indian Head on all head and intake manifold bolts, have never had a water leak of any sort. Bob
X2 on the gm pipe sealant w/ Teflon. And the seal tabs we used to use on the aluminum block caddy motors in the late 80s early 90s to seal up coolant system....... But it usually turned the coolant to mud and plugged up heater cores.
I don't think they would put the sealer in at the factory if it plugged heater cores and caused problems.
ACE Hardware carries some good non hardening pipe dope for boilers etc - worked good on SBC head bolts.
I spent twelve years in gm dealers...... They don't think it will cause problems until it does....... Dexcool is an example...... Seal tabs were two brown tablets that you would crumble up and put in the coolant system of aluminum block gm engine after a coolant flush. These were to stop any leaks in there shitty sealing head gaskets, head bolts into coolant passages ,steel sleeve to aluminum block, ect ect. Instead of sealing the head gaskets it would clog up heater cores and customers would complain of little heat output. Some times you could back flush the crap out but most times core would need replacing.
I've owned an independent shop for 35 years (started in 1978), worked in other shops before that. I've dropped a couple of Delco tabs (ginger root) out of the six pack in every overhaul I've done for about half that time. Still do it, because I've never had any trouble with them. The aluminum powder and the old Bars leak in a bottle are a different story. Different strokes for different folks.
ok, so i used white permatex in a tube. i torked them to 65lbs. started motor, sounds great very healthy. but i noticed water out right exhaust pipe. no smoke, maybe one didn't seal. i had this problem with my flathead. any in-put welcome.