Retorquing the nuts should not be needed ever.
If the inner head gasket are leaking then its to late to make the gaskets
seal just by retightening the nuts
,if was to be done the sealant would need to be replace and the sealing
surfaces of the nut and head cleaned and dried.
The head studs are reusable if they are not pitted They are yeilding studs
but not one use studs
the only non reusable bolts in the WBX engine are the rod bolts
I don't use OEM rebuilt heads and only some of the AMC heads I get in are
reused
I cant understand why rebuilt heads are even offered as an option when the
rate of failure is so high

going faster miles an hour with my sun glasses on
I remain

Bob Donalds
Boston Engine Exchange

----- Original Message -----
From: "Loren Busch" <starwagen@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 12:14 PM
Subject: Re: regarding head gasket failures on water cooled engs....

RE: Re torquing bolts
Larry, Karl, et al
I recall threads in the past stating that certain bolts on the WBX
(head bolts?) should never be reused.  That they are 'stretch bolts'
and when used the first time and torqued to the proper spec are then
under tension.  Once used they cannot be reused.  If this is correct,
is it possible that the rebuilder in this case had not used new bolts
in the assembly of the rebuilt engines?