Manx Club

I decided to remove my engine and clean it up, repaint the sheet metal, check main seal for leaks, etc. I have been running this motor for 3 years, and as I do a few days offroad every year, and I keep the buggy outside and unncovered, some things were looking dirty, greasy, and faded. Boy, I couldnt believe the amount of dirt I found stuck to the cylinder fins once I took off the fan shroud! I even found some pebbles. Its clean now, and I am sure it will run cooler. I am thinking of retorquing the cylinder heads, as this would be a convenient opportunity, however, when I assembled the engine, I used locktite on all the studs/nuts, and to retorque would mean breaking that. I have not had any sign of compression loss, so what do you guys think, should I leave it alone, or retorque? Thanks for your input.

Never use loctite on cylinder head nuts. It is not needed. Lower head studs will sometimes need retorque. Has to do with rockers arms being inline with studs. I have only seen upper head nuts come loose from extreme overheating of the engine.

I agree with turtle. Don't locktite cylinder head nuts. If you re-torque or even loosened them to remove the heads there is a good chance that the nuts will not loosen, but the studs will tighten in the block or come out from the block. I would say, leave them if there is no evidence of problems. It ain't broke so don't fix it.

Alright, I wont be retorquing the cylinder heads. Thanks for the input. I also put locktite on the studs, so they wont be coming out either.