Cylinder head woes....

Hi Guys! I tries to log on to MT today to find that it doesn't exist anymore, and found this site.
Here's my story, and my problem.
I have an 89 B2600I 4x4, it would get hot over the summer, burn a little coolant, and consume some oil. I figured I was in for a headgasket soon, but I got the truck for so cheap I figured I'd let it eat until it got bad. A month ago I was driving and my waterpump finally ate it(I've got 200k+ on the truck). I said to hell with it, ordered a new WP, engine gasket kit, injector rubbers, and studied up on doing a headgasket for the first time.

I pulled the head and found one bolt missing a washer, and 3 smashed valve seals on the exhaust side. I also found cyl 3 with a bit of coolant in the piston cup. I cleaned it up, pulled the rocker assy off, dropped the valves out and took it to a machine shop. The guy called me that night and told me it was cracked. I oredered a new one from Odessa on E-bay and got at it today.

I got the whole thing back together, torqued the head properly, and then tried to take off the T-stat cover to flush the coolant system and change the stat. No dice, one of the bolts was swapped for a stud, and it's stuck so I have to source one from the salvage yard.

This leaves me with an issue. I was not able to start the truck, run it to operating temp, and re-torque the head bolts. Am I going to be ok waiting a week to warm it up and re-torqe the head bolts, or will it mess up the new head-gasket since it will have sat with an initial torque all week before I can finish?

Thaks for your help!

I'd say this was a fairly easy job on this truck, I'm glad I was able to learn how to change a head on it. I'm used to rotaries!

I think you'll be fine. Break in the engine (Search here for hints for that, there are differing theories), and at about 500 - 600 miles retorque the cylinder head bolts.

Thanks,

I also talked to a friend who works on trucks for a living, he said it would be fine to leave it as is since I blew out the head bolt holes. He told me the only reason they say to warm up and re-torque if because you can get a false torque reading if there is fluid in the head bolt holes.

That's NOT the only reason.
Retorque it when you can, but don't forget to do it.
If you retorque it every 15,000-20,000 miles, you'd likely avoid another burned gasket.

Yes, do a re-torque after you get a few hundred miles on it......don't loosen the bolt first, just set the value on the torque wrench and tighten only!

Man.... This truck is really bugging me! I feel like I can't win!

Today I went to the local pickapart and found 1 B2600i. It was a 93' and had a complete engine sans the MAF. I grabbed the t-stat housing, and saw it had a newer looking reman alternator, so I grabbed that too! I came home, put the whole thing back together and tried to start it. It turned over then just started getting hung up on compression cycles. I checked the timing and it ended being 180degrees out, so I fixed it and tried again. No more getting hung up, but it would not start! I could here pooping in the exhaust, and the manifold got warm, but it would not start.

I checked spark and had it, so I'm guessing it's flooded. I'll try it again tomorrow, it's too cold and dark in my driveway now.

I have not given up, but damn it; I'm frustrated!

It still won't start. I took the plugs out, dried them off, burned the fuel out of the cylinders with a lighter and tried again. No dice. I double checked my spark, I'm getting it. The plugs all come out wet so I'm getting fuel.
The only guess I have now is timing. I lined up the notch will the t and stabbed the distributor. I made sure the dimples were aligned on the distributor. The rotor was lined up with plug wire 1 after it was stabbed.


Do you fellas have any guesses?

Wait a minute - isn't the B2600i distributor the one where the rotor can actually go on the shaft three different ways???

I'm not sure, but it doesn't matter as long as the rotor is in position at the cyl 1 electrode when the engine is at TDC right?

Yes it can go on 3 ways