Loose header bolts

[Marko3002]

Well heres something that worked for me, don't know the science behind it but it works .
When I got my truck the pass. side header had stainless steel allen head bolts with SS lock washers. They have never come loose. The other side for some reason had the regular shouldered header bolts and they would come loose weekly. Changed header gaskets about once a month on that side only. I was just getting ready to order some " Stage 8 " locks for it and figured what the hell, I'll try some SS hardware. Luckily I've got tons of SS hardware from rigging boats so I went with the same as the other side, allen heads with lock washers. It's been about 4 months now and I've checked em 4 times and they are still as tight as when I installed em! Havent had to change gaskets obviously either! Now I've read a bunch of threads on this and other sites that loose headers bolts are always a common problem. I figured I would post this in case anyone cares to give it a try, it definitely worked for me!

[special-K]

That's a cool tip. I'll change mine out. I've always had to check them and tighten,not as frequently as you had to and never needed to replace a gasket...unless I just let it leak a good while. Many times I'd here it start to tick,just tighten them down,and keep on rolling. There are far better gaskets available today that help the problem a lot. Come to think if it,I've never tighten the headers on my '72 since I installed them in '04. I must have used the metallic crush gaskets on that.

[dirtyjim]

i would check the stainless bolts to make sure they haven't seized up. that could be the reason they haven't come loose. anytime i use a stainless fastener i use anti-sieze.