'69 Dart - Head Bolts

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morsim

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Signs lead to a blown head gasket on my 225 - white/blueish smoke was streaming from the exhaust.
I've got the new head gasket kit (FEL-PRO HS 7918 PT-4) and am already halfway thru teardown (removing intake/exhaust as we speak) but I'm realizing that I forgot to buy new head bolts.

Couldn't find any results when searching on AutoZone and I'd like to try and get it within the next day or three. But to start, what should I be looking for to replace with? Perhaps there are bolts that are listed for other cars which I can use that'll also fit mine?

Lastly, any other things/parts I should keep in mind to replace/check while doing this repair?

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These aren't disposable torque-to-yield bolts. They are almost infinitely reuseable.
Clean 'em up, oil 'em up, drop 'em in.
 
Awesome, that's some good news to start off the weekend - thanks all!
 
While your at it clean and wire wheel/Sand all the grounds.
Engine , chassis , headlights , tail lights fuel tank ….
 
How clean should the head and area that connects the head to block be (over & under head gasket)? Should I be doing a full scrubdown to get off all grease/oil 'till shiny clean? Excuse my ignorance, it's my first proper engine project :)
 
Whitish light blue is oil.
 
Whitish light blue is oil.
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Yeah, I'm hoping it's just a bad head gasket or valves and not piston rings (even though the wet compression test seemed to indicate so ) since I'm in a time crunch and don't really want to have to drop the engine for the repair...
Where would my valve seals be to check for that? Are they in the springs (and seen above)?
 
morsim said:
Yeah, I'm hoping it's just a bad head gasket or valves and not piston rings (even though the wet compression test seemed to indicate so ) since I'm in a time crunch and don't really want to have to drop the engine for the repair...
Where would my valve seals be to check for that? Are they in the springs (and seen above)?
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Yes. When does it smoke? If it's only in initial startup, then it's valve seals/valve guides/valve stems. In other words, a head rebuild. I've never known one to need "just" seals, but you could get lucky, I guess.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Yes. When does it smoke? If it's only in initial startup, then it's valve seals/valve guides/valve stems. In other words, a head rebuild. I've never known one to need "just" seals, but you could get lucky, I guess.
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It's actually normal on startup but then after the engine "warms up" a few minutes later it starts blowing white with a blue tinge. It blows thicker on rev.
 
morsim said:
It's actually normal on startup but then after the engine "warms up" a few minutes later it starts blowing white with a blue tinge. It blows thicker on rev.
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It may have some cylinder and ring wear. But, a malfunctioning PCV valve can also cause one to smoke. So you should inspect that closely too. It probably needs a simple overhaul/rering. If you're pulling the head.......
 
RustyRatRod said:
It may have some cylinder and ring wear. But, a malfunctioning PCV valve can also cause one to smoke. So you should inspect that closely too. It probably needs a simple overhaul/rering. If you're pulling the head.......
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Tested the PCV by holding a piece of paper at the oil filler while running and it was sucking it in, so I think that ruled out a PCV problem...
So if I'm pulling the head anyway now what do you suggest (that doesn't involve taking the engine out :eek:)?
 
morsim said:
Tested the PCV by holding a piece of paper at the oil filler while running and it was sucking it in, so I think that ruled out a PCV problem...
So if I'm pulling the head anyway now what do you suggest (that doesn't involve taking the engine out :eek:)?
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Nothing. lol
 
Aha, welp there goes that. Thought there might be a trick to reringing without all hell breaking loose, oh well. :BangHead:
In other news, found 2 absolutely wrecked (bent) push rods on intake valves for the 1st and 6th cylinder that were detached from the rocker. Good start.
 
morsim said:
Aha, welp there goes that. Thought there might be a trick to reringing without all hell breaking loose, oh well. :BangHead:
In other news, found 2 absolutely wrecked (bent) push rods on intake valves for the 1st and 6th cylinder that were detached from the rocker. Good start.
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Pulling the engine is way easier than just doing the cylinder head job and leaving the engine in the car. I'd verify it first, though. Easy to do once you see the cylinders.
 
morsim said:
How clean should the head and area that connects the head to block be (over & under head gasket)? Should I be doing a full scrubdown to get off all grease/oil 'till shiny clean? Excuse my ignorance, it's my first proper engine project :)
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clean enough to eat off of.

not like, serve sashimi off it... but like you wouldn't think twice about setting down your sandwich on it and having a bite after.
 
slantsixdan said:
It is very much worth your while to get the good gaskets for the manifolds-to-head and intake-to-exhaust junctions.
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Ouch, those will only come the day I leave.
Can I just use sealant as you mentioned here with the de-bridged FelPro inter-manifold gasket and FelPro manifolds-to-head gasket instead, or was sealant a given even with the better gaskets?
 
morsim said:
Ouch, those will only come the day I leave.
Can I just use sealant as you mentioned here with the de-bridged FelPro inter-manifold gasket and FelPro manifolds-to-head gasket instead, or was sealant a given even with the better gaskets?
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Don't bother trying to de-bridge the stamped steel gasket; that will just warp it and make it even more likely not to seal well. You can goop it with sealant and pray to the gasket gods, but.
 
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