hey, gonna be making an order on monday from rockauto for some parts, few questions tho,

has anyone managed to find the coolant crossover housing gasket set on there? i'm looking for one for a '94 sts.. they don't seem to have it, which surprised me. i also called two local part stores and two dealers, nobody seems to have them.

secondly, i just wanna verify about the throttle body gasket - when i pulled my throttle body off, seems it was sealed with an o-ring. or is that what's meant by gasket? wanna make sure i get the correct part,

thirdly, those locating dowels.. definitely a dealer-only item right? i found a guy who'd sell em to me for $14 a piece i think it was, dealer price. i can live with that no prob, but another option would be nice.

lastly, the headbolts - how necessary would you guys say it is to replace them? i don't get why i can't just clean them up really nice with some gasoline, grease them up and reuse them.$54 for two sets of 10 from rockauto, so once again no big deal if i have to buy them. i sure am glad rockauto is around though.. one dealer quoted me $14 a bolt, the other one quoted me $16!!! that'd be $320 for 20 headbolts! CAD money tho mind you. haha


thanks for the help!

I believe the "O" ring on the TB IS the gasket.

You cannot use the old head bolts. I forget exactly why. I think they may have stretched or something, not sure. You MUST use new ones, which I believe come with the head gaskets. DO NOT grease them. They come coated with a thread locker. Use them as is.

You cannot use the old head bolts. I forget exactly why....They come coated with a thread locker.

that's why. The thread locker also acts as a lubricant to ensure they're all torqued equally. As I understand it, you can't apply it yourself.

The throttle body o-ring can be reused if it's not damaged. I would've thought the 93-94 used a gasket, but I never took one off.

The head bolts are "torque to yield" which stretches them close to their limit so they can only be used once safely. The sealer is another reason.

There was a thread just before you about parts to do the heads. Did you look at that? It had a lot of part numbers and the dowels were listed on there. I think they were about $3.50.

The head bolts usually come with the head gaskets. They did when we got them.

unfortunately, my head gaskets came without the bolts. i'm going to order the bolts through rockauto tomorrow i think.

i heard about this other thread actually, but never found it. i think i'll search through the forum a bit to try and find it.

and the crossover gaskets, are they reusable? i only have the two gaskets out that seal the crossover to the heads, and they look to be in alright condition.

thanks for the replies

A lot of the gaskets are reusable but they do get harder. If they still have their original shape they are probably good. If they look misshapen replace it to avoid a hassle later.

The head bolts are "torque to yield" which stretches them close to their limit so they can only be used once safely. The sealer is another reason.


The sealer is the ONLY reason. They are not TTY. Read here. (http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:St01DDp3ZMAJ:server.madisonross.com/%7Ecadillac/forums/showpost.php%3Fp%3D73217%26postcount%3D14+%22torqu e+to+yield%22+head+bolt+northstar&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=6&client=firefox-a)

I tried using the site search here, but since the last site upgrade or whatever, couldn't find any posts by "you know whom".

A lot of the gaskets are reusable but they do get harder. If they still have their original shape they are probably good. If they look misshapen replace it to avoid a hassle later.

ditto. I'm pretty sure the crossover uses silicone gaskets which can be reused, but if in doubt, replace them. They're cheap as I remember it, maybe $10-20 for all 4 from the dealer.

It's about $45 from the dealer for the four little gaskets for the crossover.