Stupid question

ghohouston

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The 220kish pmr motor im getting ready to stab in my obs, i got from a local buddy on here for free, has several of the head bolts removed, all the lower ones on the passenger side i believe. I am not extremely worried about popping a head gasket or that the gasket has been compromised, but can anyone say without a doubt the gasket has been disturbed? I'd rather not double work myself, but this wouldn't make or break me if the gasket did go. Im not sure why they were removed in the first place, doesn't really matter. I don't have to have this truck running at the moment, but would be nice to have it back in the next few months, it's been down almost a year. I can afford studs, new head gaskets, etc, but this truck will likely just have a tuner on it, no big injectors in the forseable future, and i am trying not to sink a ton of money into anything that isn't necessary right now. If i pull the head off, theres no way im putting it back on without sending it to the machine shop for a valve job, and at that point, why not send the other head as well, and the bill just adds up.
 

Vader's Fury

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Heads are not hard to do on a 7.3 in cab. I would put some stock bolts back in it and run it. Worst case your pulling the heads later down the road and resealing/decking them. Unless you can't afford the downtime later on, then I would just pull both and have them done now.

I wouldn't go with studs either way though, to costly for a stock/tuned truck. If my motor wasn't already studded, I wouldn't be doing it.
 

ghohouston

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Yeah I've pulled a 7.3 head with the motor still installed on a super duty truck once. im leaning heavily towards just doing valve seals, re sealing the oil pan, and while its off, getting that damn dipstick adapter nut welded to the pan professionally, so there is never a chance of a leak there, and pulling the head bolts i need for the pmr motor out of my 97 motor since 7.3 head bolts can be re used. Hell i ran 238/100's and a 38r on stock head bolts and valve springs for at least 30k miles no issues.
 
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co04cobra

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7.3 head bolts are sold in packs of 4 iirc. I'd buy a pack torque to spec and forget it. Doubt you'll ever have a problem with a gasket.

The pack of 4 bolts I think was maybe $15. Almost not even worth taking used bolts out for that.
 

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