Are my buddies nuts too tight

My buddy rebuilt his cb 750 Honda and he was telling me the process he went through and when it came to him tighten the acorn nuts on the... I was going to say (his) head but the head he didn't give me a tourq number, so I asked how tight are they. He said as tight as I could get them. Can anyone tell me the how to help him, he has already put about 50 miles on it. Can the nuts be loosened up and tourqed ?

 

Sigh...loosen, retighten to spec, and hope that the studs havnen't stretched beyond spec.
He-double toghpicks: maybe just leave them alone.

 

Toothpicks???

 

Sorry toghpicks ?

 

Teeth are in short supply in Arkansas.

 

Got that right, meth is bad here.

 

So if he loosens and then tightens to spec do you think the gaskets will leak?

 

If the studs are beyond spec I assume the clamping force will be reduced, is that what k-moe means?

 

If not he will soon find out ,I messed up a sequence angle torque one time and ended up replacing the head gasket it was the only way to be sure and yes you can stretch the head bolts, you would have to measure them with the bolts on the bench of course and find the spec.

 

If he has done 50 miles and the bike is running fine and power is as Honda designed it to be mabe best to run it that way.

 

no it wouldn't. "as tight as he could get them" could mean anything. Further, if the 50 miles weren't one big ride, he MAY BE able to get away with loosening everything up and then properly re-torquing them. While it's always possible he stretched the bolts, I'd be more concerned that he's already damaged the head gasket by running the motor. If it hasn't burnt through anywhere and the motor isn't down on compression (test AFTER the re-torque) he may be OK.

I would recommend loosening and re-torquing as a first step. Then do a compression test. Too bad it's not a water-cooled motor, you'd know right away...

 

Thank you guys.

 

The gaskets won't leak just from doing that.