I have a 93 f150 4.9l 300. Do the head bolts need to be replaced when changing the head gasket,and where would i buy them? Do i need to retorque the bolts after running it for awhile?
Thank You!

 

I'm wanting to say no as far as the head bolts needing replacing. I must admit I am not sure and you need to find out so heres what you need to do. Go to the Zone or Advance and have them look up your head gasket. Their listing should give them a footnote as to weather or not the bolts are torque to yield or not. TTY bolts need replacing after one use but with the 300 being such an old design I would think they would use the nice old stye bolts.

As to having to re-torque the bolts that will probably depend on the type of head gasket you choose. The best thing to do is find a place that sells Felpro gaskets. Their head gaskets are called Perma-Tourqe and they do not require sealant or re-tourque. The old style metal gaskets are the ones that needed retourque.

One thing you don't want to forget as many people do is to dip your bolt threads in motor oil. If you dont then the tourque reading will be incorrect. I think some people use a sealant of some sort for this but I use heavy motor oil.

Hope this helps!
Greg

 

you need to check the head bolts just like on any vehicle to see if the thread area is stretched, lay a straight edge of a ruler across the threads of each bolt if you can see a space between the edge and the thread it is stretched beyond its capacity to hold and needs to be replaced, they DO NOT get retightened after warming up this has all but been eliminated except on a few small chevy engines, this can change the ultimate torque setting. if you do need to change them get an ARP stud set or OEM bolt. then make sure if you use oil for the threads its best to lay them out a few minutes to drain off the excess oil, performance bolt companies recommend and engine assembly lube rather than oil for proper torque. also make sure the bolt holes are clean and dry.