Also, try to get your hands on an angle wrench. Eyeballing is unacceptable. If you can't find an angle wrench, get a protractor and measure the angle of the socket sitting firmly in the bolt head. Two people isn't a must, but it's a great idea.

My mechanic buddy that did the work got stumped on this part.  I ended up cutting a hole in a paper plate to slide over the socket extension.  I was able to use a protractor and make the appropriate markings for him.  It worked well, and the head was fine until the motor spun a bearing 1K miles later.

I'd suggest a blackstone labs oil analysis to determine the health of the motor first.  This would have saved me from doing the HG, and just replace the whole motor, which I ended up doing anyway.

you can eyeball it or use the torque angle gauge.. either or works. I used the angle gauge to be safe.

boogerboy72 wrote:

dude, just eyeball it. mark a corner of the nut, go from there. ive never used one of those stupid ass gauges on the countless heads ive replaced on god knows how many cars.

You should definatley NOT tell this to all the freakin idiots driving cars these days. Good mechanics would know what the hell to do and about where to stop, other people......


definatley bad.... bad bad idea..... lol.