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1981 Mustang Head Bolts

1K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  1981wmp 
#1 ·
Hi Everyone, Nice to meet you. I was hoping some one could help me with finding cylinder head bolts for my 1981 Mustang 3.3 L6 engine. I have looked on the internet and the auto stores around here but ant seem to find any. Does aanyone know where I might find them at an auto store or do you know whcih bolts I could obtain maybe from a hardware store that would be good for it? Thanks for any help in advance.
 
#2 ·
Head bolts are very special. No hardware bolt is going to work. We use to get our head bolts from Felpro but your right I have not been able to find any yet for your engine, anywhere. Maybe the dealer but that would cost too much. If they are torque to yield bolts your not suppose to reuse them but I have done on it on Dodge Neons at the phone company. When a head gasket was leaking and I had the replacement gasket but not the bolts. I got to observe the vehicles for years after I worked on them and se which experiments worked. I never had a problem reusing the bolts but its not the right way if they are torque to yield bolts. If they are not then you can definitely reuse them. A torque to yield bolt might gibe you a spec like torque to 75 lbs. plus an additional 1/4 turn. It stretches the bolt and that stretch is providing the clamping force.
 
#3 ·
OK, so a torque to yield bolt is supposed to be turned an extra 1/4 turn after you hit the required lbs of torque? I don't see that anywhere in any torque instructions for it so I would suppose mine aren't ( I am hoping).Do you know if they are or not? I will clean them up and use again unless I find out otherwise. thanks, if any other info on this anyone has would be helpful.
 
#5 ·
Summit Racing has both head bolts and studs for the 200.

Make sure that if your head or block has been shaved that you use the proper washers under the bolts so that you dont bottom them out when torquing them down.

The Falcon Handbook recommends Chevy head bolt washers.
 
#6 ·
You can also get the bolts or studs over at VintageInlines if you don't find them at Summit
 
#7 ·
I'm not sure what aftermarket bolts would be like, but there were two head bolt styles used in the engine family. The earlier bolts had a full diameter shank. I forget the exact year, but sometime in the late seventies the shank was reduced in diameter slightly. Your original bolts should be the slightly stepped down version. Normally, I would think that more material was better than less material in a head bolt, but the new design did offer one advantage. At the rear of the block oil travels from the block up into the head around one of the head bolts. The reduced diameter shank allows more oil to pass. The other thirteen bolts it should make no difference which style is used. That's what I have in my engine now, one stepped down bolt at the back, the rest early style, but if I ever get around to putting on my big valve head I'll use all new style ones.
 
#8 ·
I`m standing here at work and just looked these up and they have 61 Falcon part numbers so no different shank bolts on this application !
Only difference is if you have AC--You get one different bolt...........
748029


748030



Unless they used to be a C1DZ-A part number before they were B`s. But I would say they would have changed to D7 or whatever if what you say is true.
 
#9 ·
I don't know what any part numbers are. I got the tip about the later stepped shanks from the Falcon Six manual. I last had the head off my mostly stock and original '66 a year or two ago, and the original head bolts had the full size shank. One had a little corrosion on it, and since I no longer have the AC on it I wanted to replace that extra long bolt too. So I went to my local old Ford junk yard, and from the sixties head parts shelf got a couple spare head bolts, also the full size shank. On the late 70s / early 80s head parts shelf I got one of the reduced shank bolts for that oil passage. Later, I went back to get a whole head, something late 70s, and it had a full set of the smaller shanked bolts. If what I said was true anyway.
 
#10 ·
So these seem to have a stepped down shank. Summit lists them for a 170 or 250. 144, 170, 200, 250 all use the same bolts as far as I know.

Heres a stud kit for less than the ARP kit. Unless you are running high compression, I dont know why you would want studs. Im going to use this kit because Im not sure how much has been shaved off my block and head.
 
#11 ·
Thanks everyone, Since Ihev are not shaved the heads or block and they arent torque to yield bolts, I cant find them I figure I should be ok useing the old ones. They look in good condition and have cleaned them and I used a die on the threads to make sure they are good threads. All looks good. Wish me luck and no problems down the road. All your help made me able to decide what to do.Thanks again.
 
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