Can you swap out head-bolts......
 

One at a time ???

I'm serious here....I want to swap to the ARP bolts because there was a bunch of concern about the GM head bolts awhile back and I'd rather be safe than sorry. I'm also trying to avoid buying new gaskets and having to tear the whole thing down again

Can I remove one GM bolt at a time using the sequence for the install, clean the holes, install the new ARP bolt, torque it to the minimum spec (30ft/lbs I think), and then after all are installed to minimum spec torque them all down in the order called for by ARP ??

I really don't see any problem with this because as long as all the other bolts are torqued to minimum specs (which is more than enough to prevent gasket leakage) there shouldn't be any issues....and as long as I pull and install them in sequence it will prevent head warpage

any input ??

sounds like it might be ok. you gonna drain the coolant any?

before i say anything, how many miles do you have on it now if you replaced the heads? and did you use any thing like copper coat on it?

Not too sure I would do that. Id be to scared to try it. Id yank them completely loose so as not to give the heads ANY possible chance to warp. Just my 2 cents. Also, make sure you use the moly lube on the new bolts.

Id make sure you chased every single hole with an old head bolt. I took an old one and ground down 2 sides of it from end to end. To give it kind of a tap effect to catch junk. So much crap came out of those holes when I blew them out.

moregrip: yep...I'll drain the coolant to prevent any possible problems

99Silver5.3: As long as all the other bolts are there the heads won't have a chance to warp.....I'll be doing it while the motor is cold so there's no change of thermal distorsion (the only time a head will warp is when it gets hot and the clamping pressure isn't even

PappyDan: 81000 miles....I swapped heads to up the compression (71cc chambers vs 66.6cc chambers) when I did the cam swap, the gaskets are Felpro 1041's with the nitril coating on them...Felpro says not to use anything on them as the nitril acts as a sealant. I've used these gaskets before on other motors and they seal REALLY well (sometimes it's hard to pull the heads off the gaskets seal so well)

anyone else ??

I don't see why not. Sounds like a good plan to me.

Just my 2 cents man. Heads dont have to be hot to warp them.

If it were me, I'd give it a shot...

Honestly, if it were me, I'd just leave the stockers on until you go FI.