I have been searching for some answers and feedback for a few things and hoping I can clear some things up. A little info on my car, it is a 98 GS with 225k miles. I decided to finally fix the oil leak at the head gasket and started doing the "Well im this far, might as well" thing. so I decided to pull the rods and pistons to change rings and hone cylinders. some of the things I need a little feedback are..........

1) The apparent issue with the oil leak at the head gasket is the corner bolts bottoming out in the block causing them not to torque properly. upon pulling those bolt, I could tell by the tip of the bolt near cylinder 4 on the backside had noticeable markings where it bottomed out. I have a new felpro mls gasket along with new felpro bolts and the felpros are the same length as the old ones I removed. I got the head back from the machine shop and they only had to take .007" off to smooth it out. Now should I rind the tips down some and clean them up before I put it together? has anyone else had to grind the bolts and how did it work out?

2) when I pulled the rods and pistons, I forgot those bolts were also tty. im pretty much dead set on ordering new ones but curious if anybody has reused them? I have looked them over and they don't look to be stretched but I kinda don't want to chance it being a vital part. i hear one place saying replace them and others saying reuse if there in good shape. also with the miles on it i think it would be better to replace them.

thanks in advance for the help. ive been searching around here and on the web for some clarification but cant seem to find the right answer.

arp head studs will solve all your problems

Either grind 1-2 threads off and recheck, or get some high quality hardened washers for them. No need for studs.

I've done stocker bolts with felpro HG on a shaved head, no problem.

As for the rod bolts, here's my dos centavos. I've re-used bolts plenty of times. No problem provided they are not over stretched. But its been my experience that when there is rod failure on our cars (I've never had it on any of my builds. This is going off all the cores I have broken down), it is the rod bolt that goes. So it depends on your peace of mind level. Are you going to be worried all the time about your rod bolts going? If so you may want to get some new stockers. If not, then rock on.

Originally posted by bullettdsm
I've done stocker bolts with felpro HG on a shaved head, no problem.

But if the bolts are bottoming out in the corners (more common on 95/96 blocks due to holes not being drilled/tapped deep enough), then it will never clamp properly. Needs to be addressed by shortening the bolts or making head "thicker" with washers.

Kudos to OP for checking that.

Originally posted by chipdogg

Originally posted by bullettdsm I've done stocker bolts with felpro HG on a shaved head, no problem.

But if the bolts are bottoming out in the corners (more common on 95/96 blocks due to holes not being drilled/tapped deep enough)

Yup, I'm aware of that. I guess my point being that I shaved .020 off my heads and used the stock sized bolts (I think from partsdinosaur?). I have been "told" that the bolt holes are allowed for in the new parts BUT I haven't gotten any actual documentation/verifiable source that guarantees it. But I don't even give it a thought when I do a rebuild.

Now with all that being said, if you have any doubt OP, it is awfully simple to just grind of the bolt and not have any worries.

Thanks for the info guys.

Well I trimmed the corner bolts down, then beveled the tips and ran a die just over the tip just so they would thread in properly. also just to confirm the issue, I broke out the bore scope and took a peek down in the bolt holes. sure enough, the 2 at the end of cylinder 4 when I looked down in there had clean circular marks matching the bolts. I took a couple of pics and can post them for future reference for anybody else that comes along with the same questions or issues regarding that matter.

also, and I went through hell trying to find them, have a whole new set of rod bolts coming. I gave the task of finding them to our service advisor/manager guy (whatever he is) of finding them. he called 6 Mitsubishi dealers and of the 6, only 1 even had a parts department. and that guy was trying to send me hardware for 4g63 rods that cost $36. I ended up getting the number to our local dodge dealer and ordered them from there for $13. they will be in Tuesday so I can atleast get the bottom end done.

another issue I ran into was my valves. I started lapping them and on the face were black spots. one of my coworkers said they were pitted. its very light cause after I lapped them they were smooth. all the valves were sealing except one only because when I took the exhaust manifold off, some gunk got down in there between the valve and seat. I tried looking for replacement valves, but at the cost of oe valves, I might as well go stainless. so Monday im taking them to our machine shop to have the guys there reface them. hopefully they will be ok cause im already beyond my original budget which means the car will be sitting longer, lol.