Head Bolts


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By petew - 11 Years Ago
Working on a 1955 272 with c1heads. I was always aware of two of the longer head bolts on each head being about 1/4" longer than the rest of the "long" bolts.
I pulled the heads off of this motor and all of the long bolts are the same length measuring between 4.035 and 4.050. Is this ok or do I need to find some longer or shorter head bolts ?

Pete
By NoShortcuts - 11 Years Ago
Pete, what follows is from John Mummert's web site in the Technical section under Y-Block Assembly Errors...
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Head bolts. There appear to be 2 different length head bolts in a Y-Block engine, 5 short bolts near the spark plugs and 5 longer bolts under the rocker arms.


It’s true that the 5 short bolts near the spark plugs are identical but the 5 under the rockers are not the same! 2 of these bolts are slightly longer and are installed at the outer ends of the head where the alignment dowels are located. Lay all 10 longer bolts (5 per bank) next to each other and you should find 4 longer and 6 that are about ¼" shorter. Installing the longer bolts in the center 3 holes can cause them to bottom in the block which can result in a blown head gasket.

[The above said...] Late production engines have only long and short bolts.
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Hope this helps.  Smile
By Hoosier Hurricane - 11 Years Ago

'54 and '55 Ys used 10 bolts all the shorter 4.060 length.  Starting in '56 the longer bolts were used in the end holes.  The safest thing for you would be to obtain 4 of the longer bolts.  You wouldn't want to pull the threads out of the block with the shorter bolts.  Ford must have felt the longer bolts were needed because of the alignment sleeves and the subsequent removal of threads in the block.
By petew - 11 Years Ago
Thank you Charlie and John. So John what do the longer bolts measure 4.300 ? and from where might I obtain 4 of them ?

Pete
By Hoosier Hurricane - 11 Years Ago
Pete:

The parts book says they are 4.320 long.   Bolts from the local bolt supplier (like Fastenal) could be used, get 4 1/2" and shorten them.  Only downside would be the heads will be 5/8 instead of 11/16, causing you to keep changing sockets when torqueing them.  Used originals should be around in stashes from folks who part out Y blocks or replace the bolts with studs.  There's another option for you, an ARP stud kit.
By petew - 11 Years Ago
Found a full set on ebay for $20.00 so I bought them, problem solved.

Pete