Cylinder Head Torque Settings

[DazSeaton]

Hi all,
As the best use of the Haynes manual for the A10 is toilet paper, could anyone tell me the what torque settings they use for the cylinder head. My bike is a Super Rocket and has the Alloy head and not the cast iron.
When I got the bike it was blowing out of the side of the head. I have had the rockers off and the head bolts were less than 20lb ft. I assume the previous owner had recently fitted a new gasket and the head needed tightening down after being run for a bit. Not wanting to distort the alloy head I tightened them to 30lb ft, but am still getting a small oil leak. Don't want to overtighten and strip threads.
Does anyone use head paste on the copper gasket or not?
cheers
Darren

[RichardL]

Darren,

Much good advice on this topic by seaching "head torque" (without the quotes) by using the Search tab (under your avatar picture) two to the right of the "HOME" tab. I'm not providing the tech answer, because many others here are better for that, and there are differences of opinion. One thing for sure, you must use thick washers that are very nearly the diameter of the landing area and close to 3 mm thick. I doubled-up on single washers, which, I think, is almost as good as having the right parts. 


As for head paste, I use Permatex Copper Spray-A-Gasket. Others will say to use something else, others will say use nothing. Everyone, I think, will say to be sure the gasket is annealed dead soft, which, despite claims to the contrary, is not true of gaskets fresh from suppliers.

Richard L

[muskrat]

 G'day Darren,
                   I agree 100% with Richard, I use the permatex. 30lb works for me as well.
Cheers

[DazSeaton]

after a good old search, permatex does not seem to be available in the UK.
Thanks anyway.

[muskrat]

There is a couple of brands of the same stuff down here. K&W, VHT, Permatex (Loctite). Ask at your local auto parts store for copper spray for head gaskets.
 Cheers