I have a 89 Civic Hatch and am in the process of rebuilding it back up to stock condition. I am curious if I can re-use the old head bolts?

Thanks - Jeff -

 

All I want to know is if you can re-use the OEM head bolts?

 

Yep. Did it on my rebuild.

 

Thank you very much!

 

why couldn't u? unless they are striped out.. bolts don't just go bad from loosening them.. afterall thats what they are meant for

 

Well I guess sometimes they stretch and you're not suppossed to re-use them, like a torque once only type of deal. But a lot of people have reused theirs and are fine, including me.

 

It will work, yes. But the bolts were originally designed to be self locking and not reusable. Over time you MIGHT have head gasket problems like blow-by from cylinder to cylinder.

 

not unless u want your **** to break again u might get lucky but the old head bolts are junk its like ask ur self willu use your rod bearings again

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by notfastenough &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It will work, yes. But the bolts were originally designed to be self locking and not reusable. Over time you MIGHT have head gasket problems like blow-by from cylinder to cylinder.</TD></TR></TABLE>
basically, but I reused the ones from the head I bought. saved me $100. Not building a race car and they were fine so I figured it would be ok!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turboZChatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">not unless u want your **** to break again u might get lucky but the old head bolts are junk its like ask ur self willu use your rod bearings again</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's not a good analagy The bearings are wear items...that's like saying would you reuse your brake pads.

 

What's wrong with re-using brake pads?

 

I am confused now. Do I need to get new ones or not?

 

lol on the brake pads..everytime this topics comes up some people say its ok some dont,basically its up to

 

you guys are talking about the head studs for the exhaust manifold, correct?

 

i think he was asking about the head bolts that connect the head to the block...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spaceman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i think he was asking about the head bolts that connect the head to the block...</TD></TR></TABLE>oh. gotcha.

 

hybrid how is your car running..i remember you were asking about the skunk2 im

 

it's running really good actually. I have a few things that I got for it that i'm waiting to put on until I get everything I want so that I can put everything on at once. I was having a problem with cold starts and for a while I thought I either had bent valves or my timing was off, but I got the timing checked 3 separate times and it's dead on; turns out the mugen spec chip I have in my ecu is notorious with having rough cold start problems, so now I know exactly whats causing that problem. it's not really a problem at all, it's just annoying. Once the car heats up, it's fine, no hesitation or bogging whatsoever. My ride is gonna be a lot more fun to drive in the next month though

 

some say yes some say no.. its one of those items you dont want to be cheap and not do. 100 bucks now is what a few hundred you waste later?

feel safe, buy some good ones: AEBS like 115 or so...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KTeller8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">some say yes some say no.. its one of those items you dont want to be cheap and not do. 100 bucks now is what a few hundred you waste later?

feel safe, buy some good ones: AEBS like 115 or so...</TD></TR></TABLE>Yeah, i'm gonna completely agree with that idea. For the extra money it costs you, it buys you peace of mind as well, which is something I know i'm personally searching for as much as possible. 115 bucks for peace of mind really isn't too much to spend.

 

if you retorque the head bolts after 500 miles and at first 3000 mile oil change, you'll never have a problem.

Just like you had to do with them old V8's I was raised on, nothing new.

Anybody want 10 new style torque to yield head bolts????
#90005-pm3-004
$50 shipped

 

I am going to get new ones. Thanks a lot for the insights guys!

 

I haven't retorqued mine yet...been about 1000 miles Maybe I'll do it this week.

 

If they have fluted spirals all down the shank of the bolt then reuse. If not then I would recommend buying new fluted ones. That is why Honda had a recall at one time to replace the standard style headbolts. The fluted ones are meant to be reusable.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mista Bone &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if you retorque the head bolts after 500 miles and at first 3000 mile oil change, you'll never have a problem.

Just like you had to do with them old V8's I was raised on, nothing new.

Anybody want 10 new style torque to yield head bolts????
#90005-pm3-004
$50 shipped</TD></TR></TABLE>
hes correct
and as a second rule
never use them mroe than 3 times!