Torque cylinder head

[Anonymous]

Several questions about torquing the cylinder head nuts & bolts.
First, do I have to remove the valve cover to get to these nuts/bolts?
Second, when torquing should I back off on the nut/bolt a little first before torquing to specification?
Thanks.

[cbxchris]

On the cylinder head nut location it depends which engine you have...some are inside the valve cover some are not. I do not like to loosen the nut first.

[Jeff Tate]

Get the proper manual for your bike and it will show you how to torque the head, and in what order to do it. I'm 99.9% sure you should always loosen all the head bolts/nuts and then re-torque them in a criss cross pattern starting in the middle and working towards the ends. If you don't loosen the fastener first how would you know it wasn't over-torqed in the 1st place?

[Paul]

Almost definitely you will have to remove the valve cover.
Personally I wouldn't back the nuts off.
But it is best to get the manual which will answer your questions for you (with pics!)

[KEITH KRAUSE]

If access to the nuts is similar to my '79 GS1000E, you only need to take off the tank. You can't correctly torque a bolt or nut that has been previously torqued and been in service for any amount of time. You will get a false read on your wrench. Don't back them off much, just crack them loose. Your threads also need to be reasonbly clean to get accurate results. Torque the head from the center-out.
Example: sitting on the bike, the 12 nuts are left to right, front row 1 to 6 and back row 7 to 12. The torquing sequence would be: 3,10,4,9,2,11,5,8,1,12,6,7. Go in a cycle, gradually tightening as you go. Then you torque any smaller (10mm?) bolts located near the outer ends of the head and another bolt at the front/center. Get a manual for the correct torque. Mine are 27-28 ft/lb. Do this on a COLD motor only.

[Anonymous]

Can you re-use the nuts, bolts, and studs? Or should you replace those we removing the head? I know in a car or truck you always replace the bolts.

[cbxchris]

Reuse everything. One reason I don`t loosen is because I have had two things happen. I broke a stud loose in the case once...and broke a stud. You need a manual regardless of which technique you use if not familiar with bike engines. A GS 1100/1150 has thier nuts inside the valve cover for instance.

[Anonymous]

I'm curious to see what will happen with my 1100. I decided to do a retorque a few months ago and the bolts must have taken double to triple the recommended torque just to break them loose. Once I had one loose I didn't have much of a choice but do them all or face warping the head...

Steve

[KEITH KRAUSE]

I'm curious to see what will happen with my 1100. I decided to do a retorque a few months ago and the bolts must have taken double to triple the recommended torque just to break them loose. Once I had one loose I didn't have much of a choice but do them all or face warping the head...

Steve

Bolts can get "stuck" while in service. That's why you can't just torque a bolt that's been tightened earlier. You always should crack them loose first. The threads also can't have corrosion or rust for an accurate read.

[Hap Call]

I'm curious to see what will happen with my 1100. I decided to do a retorque a few months ago and the bolts must have taken double to triple the recommended torque just to break them loose. Once I had one loose I didn't have much of a choice but do them all or face warping the head...

Steve

Bolts can get "stuck" while in service. That's why you can't just torque a bolt that's been tightened earlier. You always should crack them loose first. The threads also can't have corrosion or rust for an accurate read.

Keith makes a good point here. On the 1100 16-valve motor, you have four bolts that are outside the valve cover and are likely to have some corrosion on the threads. You need to insure that they are clean before torquing the head. Also, you need to insure that you are using the correct washer on the bolts... the 1100 uses two different types of washer (one steel, and the other copper) that have different expansion rates. The shop manual tells you where they go.

Hap