Headbolt Mistake

My noobie dumbass used all of the long headbolts on the front head. I had the Fel Pro set, and didn't think before I started putting bolts in. I used all of the longer bolts in the front head and torqued them down. I was so p!#$d at myself!! Anyway, I take it I have to buy a new set of headbolts and replace the ones in the front head. What I'm not sure of is if since I have it already torqued down, will it damage the head gasket by untightening the headbolts when I replace them? Any input?

The head gasket will be fine. Just have to get new bolts since they are tty.

That's a relief. Just to check, the shorter bolts go on the lower outside of the head, correct?

Cant remember for sure. The short bolts wont reach the threads in the wrong holes tho.

come on, dont be a wuss. reuse the bolts.

Bolts are fine.

I made your same noob mistake. Reused the bolts since they weren't stretched for too long. Shouldnt be an issue.

How long would be too long for re-using the bolts. By the time I get them out, they'll have been in for about 18 hours. Would that have stretched them out or they still good to reuse?

Like the car has been RUNNING for 18 hours? Or they were just bolted in...

i agree with most people here, reuse em, done that before, if you put em in and drove it for a few days i would say buy new but shouldn't be a issue, btw piper where are ya in Ohio

Nope, they've just been bolted in for 18 hours.

Use them would be my recommendation.

Torque To Yield (TTY) bolts should not be reused. A TTY bolt stretches when you tighten the bolt to the specified torque. You tighten the bolt so much that it goes over the yield strength of the bolt. Anything up to that specific yield strength, and the bolt will not stretch and will go back to original length. But once you tighten the bolt to where it is over the yield strength, it will stretch and not go back.

Well, so what the bolt is a little longer? Well, the problem is that when you reach the yield strength and the bolt starts to stretch, if you release the tension and try to tighten the bolt again to the same torque, you can end up breaking the bolt. Once the yield strength is reached and the bolt stretches, it will be much weaker. If you try to reuse head bolts, they can break on you very easily.

With that said, I have reused many TTY bolts. You just have to know how tight is tight and don't overtighten them. If you feel the bolt starting to stretch and not getting tighter, stop. Back the bolt out and get another one to replace it. You really have to have a feel sometimes when reusing TTY bolts. Trust me, having to pull your head and try to extract a broken bolt from your block is not fun.

thanks for that insightful speech, zef.

reuse the bolts.

Thanks for the input guys. I did decide to reuse them.