head re-torquing after replacing the head gasket...

[sparki]

in anticipation of the rest of my bits (ooo er) arriving tomorrow, i was looking to get some advise on re-torqing the head after...... what?

i was gonna stick it all together with the old camcover gasket as it's only done 150 miles.... go for a small ride on it for 10-15 minutes to get it upto temp... come back and let it cool a little. whip the cover off and then... how to do the rest? do i loosen one at a time and retorque? do i undo all of them and retorque in correct order? in the past i've done one at a time, loosen and retorque; is that considered best practice? wanna make sure all goes well as there isn't time to sort mistakes after this...

then when done i'll stick the new camcover gasket on to ensure leak free existance... lol

any advise welcomed along with pitfalls plse

also... i have all the gaskets here now.... just missing the 2 studs. i recon it's ok to plonk the barrels back on and then loctite the studs in tomorrow. one of the "to be replaced" studs had a locator dowel on it so base gasket will be in the right place anyway.... i figured i could save some time doing it this way?.... anyone see an issue with that?

cheers all

steve

[Pop-Kat]

I havn't done one for years but fitted quite a few top ends in the 80's/90's, I would torque every thing down, then re check it after 250 or 500 miles as was usually running things in, but if just fitting gaskets then i'd say 50 or so miles and make sure things have got nice and hot so it all settles and give it a bit of stick !

As for re torqueing, i never undid any of the bolts ? just take the cam cover off and go through the sequence at the correct or chosen torque, usually done them up a bit tighter on tuned engines.

Don't see a problem with putting the barrels on then adding the last 2 studs later as long as no oil bleeds on to the gasket face, I wouldn't put any of the nuts on though.. I usume you've cleaned all old gasket off and your fitting new one dry.

[Katgeezer]

As per Malcolm with the re-torquing, just set torque wrench and give 'em a tweek, in the correct order, don't undo then redo.
Think you should make that first run more like a half hour and give it some stick towards the end.
Wouldn't mind betting the cam cover gasket will be fine but understand your wish for an oil free existence over the next couple of weeks!!!