Started my 170 today YIPEEE

"I started her up today after

"I started her up today after working , spending, and waiting in fits and starts since October. The "new" head seems to work well. She started right up, no leaks or other issues. Only adjustments needed after she got running was to turn up the idle screws 1/2 a turn each. The motor seems to sound and run much smoother than it did with the old head on it....could be the new plugs and wires too I suppose. I'll do a compression check on it after I run it a little more... sounds so good I don't want to mess with anything! Ran her for 30 minutes with the leg in a short barrel. Now I am ready for the ice to melt off the lake.

run it 10 hours then re-torque the head bolts... right?

Matt"

i was told the re-torque after

i was told the re-torque after a good warm up of 30 to 45 mins so says the book anyway

"John, Thanks for the info.

"John, Thanks for the info. I'll let her run for another 15-30 min. and then re-torque. Have you found a way to torque the head bolts without having to pull the valve rocker assembly off? There are at least several bolt heads that it looks to me like I will not be able to get to with T-wrench without pulling the valve rocker stuff. Any thoughts? I know I will have to re-adjust the valve lash after re-torqueing the head bolts in any case. I'd just like to avoid removal and reinstall of valve train if possible. Any handy tricks?

Thanks again

Matt"

"Matt, when I was asking aroun

"Matt, when I was asking around about re-torquing the head bolts on my rebuilt AQ130C, someone mentioned using a "crow's foot" on those bolt heads blocked by the valve train. Not sure if that will work in your case or not, but thought I'd mention it."

"Bob, thanks for the idea. I&

"Bob, thanks for the idea. I'll look into that. I may be able to get a crows foot onto the bolts...I'll look. Not sure what the effect of the crows foot offset would be on the torque reading on the torque wrench. The offset adds some leverage I would guess... but how much? HMMM. I'll see what I can find out.


Thanks again

Matt"

"This may help: [url=""]http:

"This may help: http://www.engineersedge.com/manufacturing_spec/torque_wrench_1.htm"

"Bob, I just did a quick searc

"Bob, I just did a quick search on the net and it sounds like if using a crows foot with a torque wrench it is imperative that the crows foot be at 90 degree to the handle of the wrench in order to eliminate any leverage effect of the crows foot on the wrench's calibrated click setting V.S. the actual torque on the bolt. If the crows foot is 90 degrees to the handle of the wrench is essentially the same length and the same leverage (torque) is applied. By 90 degrees I mean the paralell sides of the mouth of the crows foot being perpendicular to the axis of the torque wrench handle.

Thanks again for the idea. Now I need to go see if I can get a crows foot on the bolts in question.


Matt"

"Bob, Thanks for the link. W

"Bob, Thanks for the link. What it shows would give me more options for how to orient the tools to get at what I need to reach. Now, I still need to see if I can get a crows foot onto the bolt heads.

Matt"

"Matt, good luck. Sorry I can

"Matt, good luck. Sorry I can't be of more help. I ended up not re-torquing my head bolts after talking to the V/P support people in and them saying that a head bolt re-torque was not necessary on my rebuilt engine which was purchased from V/P by the local V/P dealer who did the engine replacement for me."

Just placing a post here on th

Just placing a post here on this string for folks to see in the future. I was able to re-torque the head bolts on my VP 170 using a crows foot (11/16 inch) on the torque wrench. I did not have to remove the valve train. I did have to loosen 2 or 3 of the valve clearance adjusters/locknuts on the rockers in order to loosen up the pushrods to move pushrods laterally within their holes to get enough clearance to turn the bolt head w/o the crows foot hitting/bending the push rods. lossening up the adjusters is not a problem or result in any "extra" work because you will need to re-adjust the valve clearance as per the procedure in your manual after re-torqueing the head bolts anyway.

Have fun!!

Post if you have questions about how I did this.

Matt