Old habit I guess. However I was taught to torque in increments. Like 10 foot pounds. Use the pattern. run to temp. And..re-torque in pattern. Then set valves and look for leaks. Works for lots of motors. Regardless of manufacture. I used the same process on Harley Davidson and AMC as well as Chevy and yes I must admit...Ford. Have not worked any MOPAR stuff for about 30 years. But I think I did them too.Did it on Honda motorcycles when I worked for them. Made the factory rep smile but got no complaints. If that leak is still there after a good re-torque then you might have a warp or a damaged head gasket. Or even a bit of dirt on that gasket. But don't jump to any thing until you have run to temp re-torqued. Some old blocks are "upset" a bit at the head bolt thread area. The torque setting is to provide some stretch in the bolt. Just some. The bolt is elastic and the torque value is set for this. The block is as well. Nature of the material. That is why the gasket has some "crush" built into it.
Last edited by Steve_H; 11/11/2013 7:41 PM.
