I bought a base gasket from a local indy shop. it was a metal gasket. nothing else on it. I wonder to myself if this is any good. I went ahead in install it and torque it down according to service manual. just for knowlege I put a torque wrench on it to check finale torque after the 1/4 turn of the bolt. using a needle torque wrench, the torque was 21 ft lbs. after reading some posts on this sight, i get the inpression it should be 42 ft lbs. i left it along in finish the job and fire it up. after running it about 5 min and shutting it down i notice oil was leaking a little out of the new gasket. I been thinking about retorquing the head bolts to 42ft lbs. is it just a bad design gasket or does it need more torque on the bolts? thanks.

 

I would torque the head bolts to 42 ft. lbs. in 5 ft. lbs increments and in criss cross pattern. This is the way I've always done it and with no problems.

The gasket is probably ok....

After the job is completed....always allow the engine to idle to normal operating temperature or at least until the valve covers are warm to the touch. Be patient and let it warmup slowly.

 

I just did a topend on my 93 fatboy evo, I used the metal gaskets too, after I torqued the head bolts down and did the 1/4 turn it hasn't seeped a drop, those metal gaskets are known to fix lots of leaky gasket problems, I had a seeping base gasket problem before I took it apart for the topend work. I don't know if I'd recommend torquing the headbolts any other way than the way the manual recommends, you don't want to stretch a headbolt by torquing it too far.

 

Last one I did was checked same way. They all read 37 ft/lb...

I've always been afraid of the "profile" type gaskets for bases, though have used them on V-8 heads with no problems but they had rubber inserts at the oil/water journals. Had one James leak for no reason so I'm afraid of them now. The updated OEM are $3.00, 16774-86D and have worked well so far.

Since you're probably going to take it back down anyway, back them off slowly in reverse order, then by the book, re-torque them and see what you get torque wise. If it's still low, when you get the jug off look VERY closely at the engine case and check the studs aren't pulling loose. It does happen, but rare that all 4 would do it at the same time.

 

we go 42#`s,(9,18,32,40,42)with the factory method,you`ll end up with 4 differert torque values

 

When you tear it all down (again), install The Oil Fix from Hayden M6 and be done with it.

 

more than likely the cylinder has a slight warp to it. id use the regular base gasket and coat both surfaces with permatix ultra grey, let it sit for 20 minutes and it will never leak. i did that with my rocker cover, they also warp, and its never leaked sense.

 

thanks for all the responce. I wasn't going to take it all the way down again. just remove the rocker box and retorque the head bolts. "prodrag" was right about 4 different torque values. mine range from 21 ftlbs to 32ftlbs. no 2 bolts were the same. I thought I would torque them all to a cautious 38 ftlbs and see if it stops the oil leak. if not then I will probably take it all the way back down and try "hotrod" method or buy the hayden m6 oil fix. my front jug wasn't leaking so I didn't mess with it, but something tells me if I tear it back down to go ahead and do the front also. thanks