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There are many videos and postings showing how to replace the head gasket on Intek engines. All of the ones I have watched show the head bolts assembled and torqued dry (no lube). Is this correct or should the bolts be lubricated?

Lubing the bolt will cause u to overtorque them.

The service manual for the single cylinder Intek says to use valve guide lube on the head bolts

most "dry" bolts are not dry. They have oils on them from manufacturing. Dry means not dipped in a bucket of oil. As ILENGINE posted, many manufacturers tell you what they want done but very few people read the foot notes, they just post the old wives tales that the Internet is full of. Even new ARP bolts have an oil film on them.

An oily or lubed bolt requires less final torque than a dry bolt.

That being said, that Briggs step #1 ILENGINE posted is news to me. I too need to be more careful about torque values and lube. ESPECIALLY on Inteks which are known to toss head gaskets. Nice find ILENGINE.

Thanks ILENGINE that is just the info I needed.

to add to the discussion - if one goes to an engineering book on torque values, it is not just the fastener but what it fastens too. I LMAO when someone lectures some of us in some car forum about how the bolts must always be dry, then they screw it into an oily hole in the block. Torque settings also have a range, often the published spec is simply the middle of that range. Sometimes three different versions of a service manual will have different values for torque, sometimes in the same manual. Page XYZ will say 23 ft lbs for something, page WXY will say 18 ft lbs and the photo page of an assembly with arrows and specs to fasteners will say 29 ft lbs. Last, how many people here send their torque wrenches out once in awhile to be cleaned and recalibrated. I do because working in the machine shop I learned that most torque wrenches over time, other than the old style single beam wrenches, can drift enough to snap bolts or have them come loose later. TeamTorque is who I send my wrenches too.

That just everybody wants to use oil when tapping aluminum which causes problem. My machinist gave a hint on what to use and it works much better. It's a common item found at drugstores and places like Tramlaw and DG stores. I very rarely have a jammed tap when doing aluminum holes. Now oil works better of steel.

Also you should use a thread restoring tap for cleaning the holes out as they don't cut threads normally; unless, sever damage has been done.

sgkent said:

how many people here send their torque wrenches out once in awhile to be cleaned and recalibrated. I do because working in the machine shop I learned that most torque wrenches over time, other than the old style single beam wrenches, can drift enough to snap bolts or have them come loose later

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I do check mine with a digital torque adapter. That how found out how lousy HFT torque wrenches were. One was nearly double the torque setting before it clicked. No wonder I was snapping bolts

Also you should unload the torque wrenches when you not using them as leaving them loaded can cause the calibration to become un-calibrated.

WD-40 works good as a so called cutting oil on aluminum.

Here is something to try next time that should work better than WD-40, its common 70% rubbing alcohol but I prefer the 90% version.