The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop disaster!

I went out today and bought new head bolts and will replace all of them.
None of them had washers when I tore apart the engine, and I didn't use washers when I assembled. How ever I bought some thick heavy washers when I got the bolts.
I thought I had cleaned the holes well enough before assembly, but I will check each hole when I swap bolts to make sure.
I used short lengths of all thread in two holes to align the head during assembly, and hand tightened each bolt before I did any torquing, so they must have been pretty well lined up, I would think.
I will measure the depth of each hole to make sure there is no bottoming out. I suppose there might have been some oil in the holes, but only what might have been on the bolt when I installed them. And I didn't use much oil, just dipped them in some oil then wiped them by turning through a clean shop rag.
I think it is possible that these old bolts have been used for a couple of rebuilds, and might have gotten too stretched out, maybe weakened from being torqued down many times. It was obvious when I tore apart the engine that someone had done some work inside before, so I know of at least one rebuild.

I'm going to replace every bolt, being very careful on inspection of the hole in the block, and hope for the best.

Tim