shifted base gasket and loose head stud nuts, advice needed

[Kemo]

All,

I pulled my 3.0 stock motor due to a leak somewhere on or around cylinder #3. i was thinking it was possibly the Cam Tower to Head. After removing the shroud to look around I cant find any wet spots around that area. however, i did find alot of oil near the base gasket on top bottom and sides as well as the head stud nuts themselves. in addition to that, it seems the base gasket has shifted up about a millimeter or two in relation to the other cylinders. just for giggles, I set my torque wrench to 20 ft/lbs and was able to tighten the nuts on that jug about 1/8 of a turn before I got a click so im thinking they had somehow loosened to about 16ft/lbs?? Waynes book has the torque setting to be 23.5ft/lbs. So, I had a wild idea to loosen all the head stud nuts, re-position the base gasket and torque to factory specs. Then I thought maybe I should pull the rockers, cams and all that and replace the base gasket. Obviously, the first idea is alot less work

I have been running this engine hard at the track for about 2yrs without issues and this just recently popped up. all the dilivar head studs were replaced with steel about 2yrs ago and the motor runs great. im hoping idea #1 is not a bad idea

as always, thanks for the input

[James Brown]

#1 i don't think so because your running at the track, maybe a habit of checking the torque every couple races is in order. If nothing else is wrong, keep running.

[Kemo]

ok...after sleeping on this (and waking up in the middle of the night thinking about it), i have decided to go with idea #1 first and see if that does the trick. people drive around for thousands of miles with broken head studs and clapping heads. so im hoping a slight loosening, re-positioning of base gasket, and tightning of the head stud nuts will not be too much trama for the engine.

ill repost with results when I get this back up in there.

[Joe Bob]

Head studs can pull as opposed to snapping.

[Kemo]

ok...i loosened all of the head stud nuts for that bank and carefully pryed (sp?) the cylinder from the bottom just enough to center the base gasket. then i followed the procedure in Waynes Engine Rebuild book to re tighten the head stud bolts. All of the nuts tightened up to factory specs at 23.5ft/lbs

here is an after pic


I have new valve cover gaskets on the way and will retorque the other bank prior to putting the motor back in the car.

[yelcab1]

If it happens again, then your head studs have stretched.