trick with the oil though is not to use too much, (I actually used copper anti-sieze on mine). As the oil will pool up on the bottom of the hole which will affect the torque reading becuase the pool of oil will "compress" and actually ad to the torque value which is the opposite of what you are actually using the oil for to begin with.

What is being referred to here is called breakaway torque IIRC.

 

Oil is a liquid, as long as its only a coating its perfect. Anti-seize consists of solids (graphite, copper) suspended in a carrier. This would play havoc on your torque spec due to the fact the molecular thickness is massive in comparison to oil, so every point the threads make contact with each other, which is pretty much the whole way, anti seize is between them creating more resistance.

I'm still glad I stumbled across this thread, I put a felpro head gasket in my 22re carb'd probably about 5 hours ago, better late than never

 

Thing is the Head bolt Torque in the FSM is on the low side.

I have torqued mine to 65 foot pounds once and done with the newer style gaskets.

 

So much BS about this subject. Read Toyota FSM, Read the gasket manufacturers directions.
1000k retorque to original torque spec. It's not even about the spec- it's about getting them evened out after heat cycling the bolts.

 

Crap, I just read this whole thread. Did my HG 4k miles ago with oem gaskets. I've had my cover off twice since then while adjusting the valves and everything runs beautiful now.... Any sense doing a retorque now?

Wish I knew about this after 500... 1987 22r 4x4.

 

It is your call

I can only go by the hands on engines I have done over the years.

 

I too have a Victor Reinz head gasket, I re-torqued at 500 miles and again at 1000. I'm at 36000 miles now.

 

Two retorques? The only reason why I am not immediately running out and pulling my valve cover off is the comment about all of the 22rs off the line.... they're purchased at 0 miles and never retorqued. Look how many miles they go before blowing a hg.

I had my head machined and have a brand new oem gasket on it.

 

i put a fresh engine together about 2 years ago around 30,000 miles give or take .

after the first valve adjust the closest I get to the valve cover is changing the oil.

My head bolts are torqued to 65 foot pounds end of story.

I will not say do it nor will I tell you not to.

I can only go by what I see in my engine.

 

I just did a complete rebuild on my 86 22re. The machine shop and a Toyota tech i talked to both said to re-torque at 750 to 1000 miles. I guess this becomes a personal preference, but its not like its takes long to do...

 

I re-torqued at 500 and at 1000 because that's what the instructions that came with my crate motor said to do. Sunwest Automotive is where I purchased it.

 

Honestly? I don't own a torque wrench. So it's a bit of a pain to go get it done (borrow one or drive to shop or buddies house), but certainly worth it if that saves the HG. All I know is that it's driving perfectly, no issues, no coolant smell, not running hot (knock on wood) and I'd hate to mess with with it if not necessary.

Nowhere in the FSM nor any gasket instructions that I've seen did I hear anything about a re-torque either.... but I'll probably get it done anyway.

 

Hi, guys!

I recently rebuilt my motor, and had to re- do the lower end. (Sometimes saving money means paying out twice as much in the end)

I put a Fel-Pro Perma-Torque gasket on the rebuilt head. (I had the block decked, and the head was surfaced as well)

Well, I stumbled on this thread, and after about 300 miles, decided to try the loosen 1/4 turn, then re- torque each head bolt.

Let me tell you...

This might be a perma-torque head gasket and maybe nothing would have gone wrong, BUT, the number four cylinder rearmost head bolt, passenger side, was definitely not as tight as the others. And in fact, all of them seemed to vary a little. So they all got loosened (In sequence, 1/4 turn or so) then re- torqued.

Almost every single bolt seemed to be tighter than the breakaway torque.

I think this is a good testament to the idea of re- torquing the head bolts, not just tightening, but loosening 1/4 turn then RE- torquing.

So, I am pretty relieved I did this. It took me just 4 minutes, but have the motor on a stand. Now I can be sure that my head bolts are tightened to spec and not worry.

FYI...

 

Hi All,

About as new as it gets to Toyota and DIY engine work, but this site has been extremely helpful (and entertaining). Thank you all for posting info and help for all us nubes. Just wanted to throw my experience with re-torquing into the mix as another data point that might help someone else make a decision.

Background:
Replaced the head on a '91 22re (cheap-o Mizuno head with an OEM gasket, new head bolts). Didn't have the time to get the original head planed and didn't want to risk it as I was doing this work in front of my apartment during a holiday gap in street cleaning...

My Story:
Torqued the head bolts to the Haynes recommended 58 ft/lbs

Ran the engine for about three hours over the course of 2 days while I tuned and checked everything (didn't drive it). Toward the end of this period I noticed a bit of white smoke when I would come off of the throttle. Thought I was screwed, found this thread and decided to re-torque.

Backed off each bolt 1/4 turn in the proper sequence with a click-style torque wrench set at 54 ft/lbs. Not one bolt registered a click.

Re-torqued in the proper sequence to 64 ft/lbs. My thinking here was that I'd crushed the gasket to 58 already, so wanted to make sure it crushed a little further in re-torquing.

Drove the truck from NY to Maine and back the next week, and have put a little over 2k miles on on it to date. The work has held up.

 

As someone who builds and works on large scale roller coasters and rides and their respective vehicles, I'd like to put out some general info here even though this is an old thread.

I don't want somebody to run across this and make a big mistake.

whether it be head bolts, mains or even for my roller coasters, torque is torque. Every bolt will stretch, regardless of it being labeled as TTY or not. The premise here is that we have applied a load dynamic and would like to keep it.

The engine, or whatever it is, has called for a spec at that bolt (head, main etc..). Therefore we should check to make sure it's there.

What we don't want to do is deviate away from that value, whether it be gain or loss. Standard practice is to set your torque wrench to 80% of your spec and check it. you'll know if its low or high.

You never want to half turn off, just to tighten back on. You are effectively stretching that bolt again.

If the bolt is loose on your 80% check, you may tighten back to 100% spec.

There is a reason why these parts have a torquing sequence and upon reliving torque and re applying, you are changing the load dynamic on the head.

 

​​​​I know it's a super-old thread, but some new information has come to light that hasn't been brought up yet.

During a head bolt retorque it's not hard to strip threads in the block. Just ask me how I know...

And I'm not saying this will definitely happen to you, cause it appears several people here did it with no harm, but I sure wish I had listened to my gut and NOT retorqued the @&#$%! thing. It was running strong, no leaks and perfect compression. I was just doing some preventative maintenance to make sure I wouldn't have to re-do the headgasket anytime soon.

Fyi, my setup is Engnbldr stock head (only 6000 miles), dnj bolts and a Toyota OEM head gasket. I backed the bolts off 1/4 turn in the correct order and retorqued to 65 ft/lbs again in the correct order.

My plan's to slap my spare Engnbldr head gasket in there and reuse everything else after I helicoil the stripped threads.

 

I wasn't planning on digging up this thread, but a recent thread about the subject had me curious as many posts in this thread state that the Toyota Factory Repair Manual states to perform a re-torque.

I cannot find a re-torque of the head bolts mentioned in my 1987 Factory Repair Manual.

Does any 22R or 22R-E Factory Repair Manual have a re-torque procedure?

Did Toyota release a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) for 22R and 22R-E engines on this subject?