Well I am back on the 6.5 forum. Measured my block and found out it is a 6.5 lower end. Anyhow I thought I read somewhere that you were not supposed to reuse the old headbolts yet in the haynes manual, which I take with a grain of salt, it says just to clean and reseal the threads. What do I do? Also I see there is no adjustment on the rockers. Usually it is 1/2-3/4 of a turn after zero pushrod tolerance but I guess that is for gassers. Does this mean there is a installed valve stem heigth spec? Thanks for the help. Hopefully I can get it running soon.

You cannot reuse the bolts, they are torque to yield. You can order them about anywhere. If the engine is out, why not us studs, they are reusable!

Rocket lash is not adjustable, by a nut anyhow!

Yes a head stud kit is available from arp for the 6.2/6.5 engines.When inquiring about these,ask for a 6.2 application as a 6.5 is'nt listed from what i've heard.I seen them on fleabay for $170 U.S or you might want to check out summit racing.

Tighten down the rocker arm shafts evenly and your good to go.

40 ft/lb on the rocker bolts

hydraulic, no adjustment.

There are specific warnings about piston position during the install of the rocker shafts. Not sure how it could be a problem if the cam and crank are timed but there is a warning about it. I suppose if they are not aligned properly and the piston was up you might have a problem.

Be sure to clean, check, or replace the push rods. If they are to be reused they need to not be interchanged or severe wear could result.

When you put the heads on be sure all the pistons are down some in the holes, maybe 1/2" at least.

When you tighten the rocker assemblies go easy and evenly to allow the lifters to bleed a little.
If you have a piston at the top and bust the rockers down quickly you can stuff a valve into a piston and bend things.

Just do it the way I described and you will not have any issues to worry about

I thought the head bolt replacement was only for '82 and '83 6.2L? I've built my engine three times and reused the headbolts both times! Someone please tell me my baby is OK! Tell me I don't need to stop driving it immedately and tear it down! Any help on this matter is appreciated.

Restoguy-How long has it been since it was last put together? What went wrong with the engine the last 3 times? I'd say run it.

If you have head bolts with 11.9 on the head of the bolts, you can reuse them.
If they have only a o on topp, they are for one time use.

Better to learn now, but crap:(, I guess that means new push rods for me.

Good info guys I like the forum. I am a motorcycle mechanic and have done all of my vehicle mantainance. One thing I probably would have overlooked is the lifter bleeding. You guys probably saved me a couple of valves. The haynes did say that the earlier 6.2s had bolts with less threads. They updated the bolts to have longer threads to maintain the proper torque over a long period of time. I ordered a GM factory manual. It should be here before my heads are all ready to go back on so I will see what that says about head bolts and post it on this thread.

New bolts are the way to go. The bolts stretch when you torque them.

From what I've been told, the #1 cause of head gasket failure is head bolt stretch(like what happens to them from over-heating). I use ARP in everything I can, there re-useable and provide proper sealing without as much stretch(ALL bolts stretch, that is the whole point of torquing them). And as for the pushrods, there directional. One end is different than the other so they must be re-installed in the same direction.

Restoguy-How long has it been since it was last put together? What went wrong with the engine the last 3 times? I'd say run it.

The first time through it, was just inspection and new gaskets because it sat outside after being pulled from a wreck. The second was because the crank broke(manual tranny imput shaft damage, from the wreck!). The third was after a cam bearing walked out of the block. I haven't pulled it hard but all together I've put about 35K miles on it.

I'm going to check my head bolts and see what they say on top. Then I hope I can sleep better at night. I also have to pull my pushrods out and check to see that they are installed properly. All the books I have say nothing about the fact that they have to be installed a specific way! Thanks to you guys I know now!

Yes the pushrods should be installed with the copper ball end facing upwards.But i've also seen guys use them backwards and got away with it.Regarding your head bolts,its true they are a one time deal,but i would not worry about it if no bubbling in the radiator or overflow container is present.Drive the beast and don't worry.:)

If its got 35k on the pushrods, I wouldn't worry about them either, they already devloped there ware pattern and if they was going to be a problem it prolly would have shown up by now. I'd run them anyway, and next time you rebuild, inspect and replace them back where you had them or replace, but I wouldn't reuse if you wanted to turn them back around correctly, that would make them have to ware in atleast a third time.

I used the ARP stud kit for a 6.2L and it workd great. ARP's Headquarters is near my home and I get to visit their facility when I purchase stuff. They are good people making great products...