Well, live and learn. Picked up the new head set just now. LO and behold.
Instructions stapled to the head gasket say for cast iron blocks and
heads retorque immediately when engine reaches operating temperature
while hot. For aluminium head or block run up to operating temperaturte
cool to ambient temp and retorque. For 24 odd years (actually more taking
into account non LBCs) I have been using the wrong technique. The real
wonder is that I've had as few failures as I have along the way. I don't
ever recall seeing an instruction tag with this info before. My
recollection is that no gasket compoungd or oil shold be used and that
one should be sure to install right side up and make sure surfaces are
clean. The erroneous info in my head has been there so long that heaven
only knows where it came from.
Of course you can teach a middle aged dog new tricks its the only old
ones that are untrainable.
Deano
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