For what it’s worth, here’s my experience with 3rd gen head bolts.

Was there corrosion on the bolts when you removed them? I’ve always reused head bolts on 3rd gen engines and have never had an issue. It takes more force to loosen a torqued bolt, but the amount required to loosen a torqued bolt depends on other factors such as corrosion. It seems like I remember someone posting the bolt lengths at one time but I can’t tell you for sure if it was in this forum.

I wouldn’t go over the specified torque spec. Just make sure to do the stepped torque procedure from the manual. I would visually inspect them, and compare the lengths of the bolts to each other. If you have any suspicion that one or more are stretched you will want to replace them.

 

For what it’s worth, here’s my experience with 3rd gen head bolts.

Was there corrosion on the bolts when you removed them? I’ve always reused head bolts on 3rd gen engines and have never had an issue. It takes more force to loosen a torqued bolt, but the amount required to loosen a torqued bolt depends on other factors such as corrosion. It seems like I remember someone posting the bolt lengths at one time but I can’t tell you for sure if it was in this forum.

I wouldn’t go over the specified torque spec. Just make sure to do the stepped torque procedure from the manual. I would visually inspect them, and compare the lengths of the bolts to each other. If you have any suspicion that one or more are stretched you will want to replace them.

Like 1 or 2 of the bolts had some rust on the threads and the shaft of the bolt. Thought that was kind of weird. And a few had this crazy gunk on it that people on other forums said its burnt nasty oil from research I did.

 

Sam think about the car you asking questions about, it was never built to last forever.
ARP is always good upgrade and OE replacement, and they don't even sell OEM bolts anymore.
If you want to reuse the bolts, take the chance but remember its only you who suffers to cosequence of redoing headgaskets or losing compression and engine work etc...

 

Yeah but it is a honda. And they seem to last longer than any other car for the most part.


I need to inspect the bolts again and maybe I will post some pics of them on here.

 

If they were over torqued then theoretically they might have over stretched and are no longer ideal.

But unlike a lot of manuals, Honda does not recommend changing the head bolts (where they do specify changing a lot of other bolts in the manual).

I do have a set of arp head studs that I’d sell you on the cheap if you are interested. PM me.

 

with my usual caveat that I am neither mechanical nor a 3G expert,; however, I would not reuse overtorqued headbolts and would get a set of ARP replacements to use

 

Yeah I ended up getting some used arp studs!

 

You are begging for trouble. Follow the shop manual. End of story.

 

What do you mean? The manual says to reuse the head bolts. But it doesn't say anything about overtorqued ones. So arp studs are what I'm using.

 

You should be using the stock ones that you removed. They shouldn't have any damage unless you had a blown head gasket and running incorrect coolant, causing them to rust or some serious warpage.

I don't know what ARP ones are. Just stick with the stock if you can, otherwise you are taking a gamble unnecessarily. lol they are bolts to hold the cylinder head down over the gasket. Anything more is snake oil.

 

You should be using the stock ones that you removed. They shouldn't have any damage, they are inside the engine and were treated with motor oil before going in.

Hopefully they were treated with motor oil. I have no clue.

But I bought arp studs so those will be a lot better anyway.

 

Their extra strength is irrelevant. The stock bolts are strong enough to apply sufficient torque. If you apply more torque than the value specified in the shop manual then you risk damaging your head gasket. Your timing may even be a little off too because the cylinder head will sit lower, like you've had extra resurfacing, and then you risk your timing belt slipping.

 

The timing won't be off. That is why we have adjustable timing belt tensioner.

 

ARP is overkill for an NA application but they won't hurt anything. I'm still not convinced the head bolts were over torqued. Like I said before, it takes more torque to loosen a torqued bolt. Especially if there is any corrosion or varnish build up on the bolts. Which sounds like that's possibly the case here. I probably would have just cleaned up and reused the stock bolts if they looked good. But since you already have them now you might as well go with the ARP fasteners.

 

Yeah that definitely makes sense. I didn't think about that. But they all took about the same amount of torque to lossen them. And some had a ton more corrosion than others. But yeah I will definitely keep them as spares!

 

Its simple, if the head bolts are stretched, then measure them.
ARP bolts will do the trick.

I see what WhateverMate is saying about sticking with the OE bolts, however, the motor and all metal is fatigued so upgrading to ARP will not be a bad thing.

He is stating that sticking with the OE specs is the best option, but the fact that the motor and all the rest of the car is 35+ years old means wear and tear, so again, there is nothing bad about upgrading to newer hardened hardware.

I would be more concerned about the aluminum threads giving way once you torque to spec before worrying about the stock head bolts.

 

Are there measurements on the stock head bolts? I tried looking and couldn't find anything.

 

If the cylinder head bolts needed to be replaced then the shop manual would have said they need to be replaced, just like it does with engine mount bolts.

Bolt stretching... lol if the bolt goes in and tightens it means its fine.

Who comes up with these theories. Lol

 

Hmmm

 

the attached list of bolts may help

 

What? I think you have the wrong engine as well. Looks like it might be for a carbed engine.

 

sorry -- 2.05 si? or 2.0 si?

 

B20a5 so 2.0si. Is that the length of the bolts those measurements that are in the pic?

 

2.0 Si Information