Torque specs for head bolts

[Hunter]

I was wondering what the torque specs are for the heads on the 1979 440 Invader.  I'm working on rebuilding it and just got the crankcase pulled out tonight.  Also if anyone has any advice on rebuilding it that would be appreciated. I've never rebuilt one of these before.

[gixxer6]

My advice is to buy a factory service manual.   

The heads should be torqued to 16 ft lbs in two or three increments.  They should be torqued in a specific sequence, which is why I recommend getting a manual. 

[Hunter]

Wow that's it? I thought it would be more than that. The gasket kit I'm useing is made by winderosa I've heard bad things about their head gaskets not sealing so hopefully I don't have that problem.

[gixxer6]

Others have had success with the Winderosa head gaskets.  I have not, and always recommend finding NOS 4/6 LTD head gaskets. 

[mswyka]

I have not been successful at 16 and now torque all head bolts to a minimum of 20.

[Hunter]

Just got the flywheel pulled off and the case split apart. The seal on the flywheels end of the crankshaft was completely shot. And I'm also pretty sure the CDI box is bad. The hot wire coming out of the box was melted. So I think that's what was causing the problem that I wrote about in an earlier post.  Now my question is how do I get the seal on the other end of the crank off?

[Interceptor398]

A gear puller with small fingers on the jaws.  You might need to file them a little to get them behind the gear.

[rminier]

 Trucker has an excellent thread on here under the "Tips and tricks" section titled "crank seals for dummys" that would be a helpful read.
 Or enter "crank gear" in the search box on here....LOTS of good stuff.
 mswyka's comment on torque got me wondering...I have a 35 year old Craftsman simple beam type torque wrench. I know I have always gone around the nuts one more time after guessing that I have gotten to 16 ft. lbs.....I know I have probably overtorqued them....probably to 18 or 20 ft. lbs??...that's if my torque wrench is accurate. I may have overtorqued more than that.
 The Engineers didn't come up with the recommended torque settings without giving it some serious thought. I have always read that the proper torque slightly stretches the bolt (or stud in this case) which provides the proper clamping force, and helps prevent the fasteners from coming loose. So....you can't go crazy over tightening these things...
You risk warping the heads and all kinds of other nasty stuff if you go too far.. ..but, I have had great luck with Winderosa gaskets (so far) with all my sleds.......dunno.

[rminier]

 Hunter, when you get ready to reassemble the engine, remember to bolt the front coolant manifold to the cylinders before you torque down the cylinder head nuts. That manifold squares up and aligns the cylinders properly before you clamp the cylinders down.
 Put a little grease on the inner lips of the new crank seals when you install them so they have a little lubrication when you fire the engine up for the first time.

 

[rminier]

 MORE thoughts on torque...groan
 Do you have the threads on the studs (and the inside of the acorn nuts) absolutely clean and dry when you torque down the nuts? Or, do you use a tiny bit of oil on the threads?
 I looked in one of my shop manuals and it makes no mention of using any lube on the threads....so, that usually means don't use any oil. I think I always have applied a tiny bit of oil on the threads.
 It's easy to think if you tighten 2 identical cylinder head nuts down to exactly 16 ft. lbs.....one perfectly clean and dry, the other with a light film of oil, you might easily get another 1/8 of a turn on the oiled one, since you are no longer having to overcome the resistance of bare steel threads scraping against each other.
  Too much to worry about.....lots of stuff is put together without using a torque wrench! And it seems they have "dumb luck" and never have any problems!

[mswyka]

I think the best way to pull the gear is with a bearing splitter.

[Hunter]

One of the gear pullers I have should work. I tried three different three armed pullers to get the flywheel off before I finally said to hell with them and made my own puller.

[Hunter]

Does anyone know if thier is way to test the CDI box? I'm almost certain that it's bad but I hate to spend a hundred bucks on a new one just to find out that it wasn't the problem.  Also does anyone know were I can find choke cables?  The ones I have are pretty beat up and one of them is missing the end.

[gixxer6]

Trucker has an excellent thread on here under the "Tips and tricks" section titled "crank seals for dummys" that would be a helpful read.
 Or enter "crank gear" in the search box on here....LOTS of good stuff.
 mswyka's comment on torque got me wondering...I have a 35 year old Craftsman simple beam type torque wrench. I know I have always gone around the nuts one more time after guessing that I have gotten to 16 ft. lbs.....I know I have probably overtorqued them....probably to 18 or 20 ft. lbs??...that's if my torque wrench is accurate. I may have overtorqued more than that.
 The Engineers didn't come up with the recommended torque settings without giving it some serious thought. I have always read that the proper torque slightly stretches the bolt (or stud in this case) which provides the proper clamping force, and helps prevent the fasteners from coming loose. So....you can't go crazy over tightening these things...
You risk warping the heads and all kinds of other nasty stuff if you go too far.. ..but, I have had great luck with Winderosa gaskets (so far) with all my sleds.......dunno.

I agree.  I think the Kawasaki engineers knew what they were doing when they came up with the 16 ft lbs spec.  I tried 16, I bought a new craftsman torque wrench, tried 16 again, then tried 20.  Still leaked.  I always re-torque after a heat cycle.  Once I switched to the OEM 4/6 gaskets my problems ended.  I think the engineers knew what they were doing, that's why they updated the gaskets on the 4/6... 

[Hunter]

Well turns out none of my pullers will work to get this gear off so I'll have to come up with something else.