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ARP Head Stud Install

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pboglio

15+ Year Contributor
1,799
85
May 8, 2004
Palos Heights, Illinois
I recently did the ARP head stud install (2g, 11mm kit) on a 2g with the head still on the car. Pretty easy; pull valve cover off, take one head bolt out ONLY, clean threaded hole with solvent and a rifle brush, replace with new ARP higher capacity stud and moly-lube, torque to spec, then move to the next bolt. I used Loc-tite blue on the block side threads, just in case. ARP recommends 70 ft-lbs torque with their Moly-lube, I used 75 ft-lbs.

People have mentioned having to grind the stud washer to fit around the valve spring. Now, the valve springs on a few holes do interfere, but if you FIRST lay down the washer and THEN drop the head stud into the hole, its no problem. Using a magnetic pickup/wand makes things much easier, you don't want to be dropping washers and nuts into the oil return passages in the block. There is ample room for the head stud nut and a 12 point 1/2" socket to clear any obstructions including valve springs, everything is a bolt on affair.

A few things to note. The 2g head bolts are 3/8" in diameter for most of the shank length. ARP 2g studs are 11mm. According to ARP's chart, their 3/8" head studs are rated for a Preload of ~11,000 lbs, the 11mm studs @ 16,000 lbs. Thats a pretty good increase in clamping preload.

Reason for the swap was that I was getting some major coolant pushing into the overflow bottle under high boost driving, causing some seriously high coolant temps (213*F). Further evidence of a compromised head gasket was heat scorch/corrosion marks on 4 of the 10 head studs, mostly the inner bolts. The stock head bolts just weren't cutting it on my 100,000 mile setup with +36 lb/min compressor flow and 21 psi of boost.

The ARP studs have limited my coolant loss to about 2-3 ounces or so and greatly reduced my engine overheating. Seems like every time I heat cycle the engine it pushes less and less coolant, who knows. This is all on the stock headgasket as well, which has probably already been damaged. Ideally, I would have replaced the head gasket too, but for $88 and 2 hours worth of work, I had nothing to lose. Cheers.
 
pboglio said:
I recently did the ARP head stud install (2g, 11mm kit) on a 2g with the head still on the car.
...
ARP recommends 70 ft-lbs torque with their Moly-lube, I used 75 ft-lbs.
...
but if you FIRST lay down the washer and THEN drop the head stud into the hole, its no problem. Using a magnetic pickup/wand makes things much easier, you don't want to be dropping washers and nuts into the oil return passages in the block. There is ample room for the head stud nut and a 12 point 1/2" socket to clear any obstructions including valve springs, everything is a bolt on affair.

A few things to note. The 2g head bolts are 3/8" in diameter for most of the shank length. ARP 2g studs are 11mm. According to ARP's chart, their 3/8" head studs are rated for a Preload of ~11,000 lbs, the 11mm studs @ 16,000 lbs. Thats a pretty good increase in clamping preload.
...
The ARP studs have limited my coolant loss to about 2-3 ounces or so and greatly reduced my engine overheating. Seems like every time I heat cycle the engine it pushes less and less coolant, who knows. This is all on the stock headgasket as well, which has probably already been damaged. Ideally, I would have replaced the head gasket too, but for $88 and 2 hours worth of work, I had nothing to lose. Cheers.

Actually I suspect you could add a minimum of another 5lbs but don't quote me on that.
.........

A prefered trick is to use a long straight blade screwdeiver once the stud inplace. Just put the nut and then the washer on the screwdrive, press the blade up against the stud and let go the washer and then the nut. This works for intake and exhaust manifold studs as well.

Why not the magnet, because it will magnatize the parts which will then collect fine steel wear particals which can then get dislodged as "chunks". Better to add another magnet to the drain plug with a short cable.
...........

How bad was your coolant loss and overheating?? I have a Northstar 32v engine which needs all the insterts, that means I have to drill the head out .040" to put the tap which has to be welded to make longer. Then make a driver to install the inserts to the proper depth and then all the studs just as you have done, each hole one at a time. Since water is not entering the cylr I may be able to salvage the head gasket seal since I expect to find several of the bolts stripped.

The factory time requires pulling the complete subframe with everything attached then pull the heads and thread repairs for 23 hours worth of work. I have nothing to loose and figure it will take 4 hours doing it my way.

BTW do a retorque on the studs within the week, then check when you have some extra time, won't hurt anything.

Cheers,
GTM
 
Thats a very good idea about the screwdriver and washer/nut trick, I'll use that in the future. I actually thought about the torque value alot before the head stud install. ARP strongly recommends 70 ft-lbs specifically for 11mm studs using their moly-lube, at 93 ft-lbs the head studs yield completely. ARP even recommends 65 ft-lbs for guys with aluminum heads, because of the head's thermal expansion. People with 1g and the ARP 12mm studs are recommended to apply 86 ft-lb of torque, with a yield torque of around 115 ft-lbs. I'm pretty happy with 75 ft-lbs as a compromise for the 2g kit. Guys who use motor oil instead of moly-lube have to torque another 15-20 ft-lbs higher to overcome the increased surface friction.

My coolant loss into the coolant overflow previous to the ARP head studs was about 10-12 ounces in 1 day under heavy boost driving. It was enough that it would not draw back into the radiator, which means I would lose more than that if I didn't refill it. If I never boosted the car, it wouldn't push any coolant and it would run at 196*F. Once I started boosting and pushing coolant, I'd run at 213*F which would never drop down because of the air in the cooling system. Its now running 199-203*F under heavy boosting, thats a major improvement. Cruising temps eventually drop down to 196*F even after some abusive driving.

I'll re-torque the bolts when I get the chance, I wanna give it a good week of high boost driving. The thing I noticed is that it pushes less and less coolant now every time I run the car, its down to pushing about 2-3 ounces now as measured in the coolant overflow bottle. But at least now the cooling system will draw almost all of the overflow back into the radiator.

A few people mentioned that doing the head bolts one at a time was dangerous or not recommended. However, from my point of view, I had little to lose because I was that close to having a complete head gasket failure prior to the ARP head stud install. This helped cure both my coolant overflow problem AND my overheating problem. I'm very happy with the results so far.
 
pboglio said:
...
ARP even recommends 65 ft-lbs for guys with aluminum heads, because of the head's thermal expansion. People with 1g and the ARP 12mm studs are recommended to apply 86 ft-lb of torque, with a yield torque of around 115 ft-lbs. I'm pretty happy with 75 ft-lbs as a compromise for the 2g kit. Guys who use motor oil instead of moly-lube have to torque another 15-20 ft-lbs higher to overcome the increased surface friction.
...
It was enough that it would not draw back into the radiator, which means I would lose more than that if I didn't refill it. If I never boosted the car, it wouldn't push any coolant and it would run at 196*F. Once I started boosting and pushing coolant, I'd run at 213*F which would never drop down because of the air in the cooling system. Its now running 199-203*F under heavy boosting, thats a major improvement. Cruising temps eventually drop down to 196*F even after some abusive driving.
...
A few people mentioned that doing the head bolts one at a time was dangerous or not recommended. However, from my point of view, I had little to lose because I was that close to having a complete head gasket failure prior to the ARP head stud install. This helped cure both my coolant overflow problem AND my overheating problem. I'm very happy with the results so far.

Ah, didn't note the year and torque differences.

As a professional I've had to make repairs to single head bolts that had stripped, some never showing coolant loss and others in early stages. You give the customer the option of doing a head gasket replace or that it may not work. Never once did it not work, it bought the customer at least another year of use, it prepared them for the eventual repair rather than cleaning out their savings account. You tell them what to watch for and to monitor as you have done, explain as you did how and why it acts this way.

Remember you are on borrowed time and I'd suggest you save the turbo for when you need it. Of course you want to know and thus have to experiment with caution how it's going to act just from the reliability aspect.

It's always an uneasy feeling when people tell you something won't work but as you point out you had little to loose. This sort of thing isn't for everyone for it requires an understanding and willingness to accept that it might not solve the problem. You might consider using something such as Bar's "Head Gasket Repair" now you have improved upon the clamping pressure and reduced the gaps. It's an involved process that takes 24 hours where you run the engine, drain the coolant, flush, add the solution, run, let sit, run, drain, let sit, run and let sit for 12 hours.(something close to that)

I've used Sodium Silicate before on cast iron "cylinder blocks" that had cracks from valve seats or spark plug holes but never on aluminum heads following that process because it's time consuming. Yet the maker says they have good success so I'm going to give it a try after I do the insert and stud substitution.

Thanks for reporting your repairs and other info, it's important for others to read so they understand they may have options that can save themselves $$$. There is a risk it won't work because of advanced stages

Cheers,
GTM
 
Can this same ARP head stud replacement be done on a 1g? I am experiencing the same coolant pushing problem as pboglio was. A new rad, Thermostsat, Rad cap(.9 bar) and Bar's headgasket fix have not worked, a new(last week) 1.3 bar Rad cap has helped a little. If I stay out of boost the coolant level holds solid. However if I boost over 18psi I'll fill my overflow bottle after a couple of hard pulls. I saw this first hand at my last Dyno session. I should also mention that when I had the cylinder head rebuilt and ported N polished, it was installed on top of a Mitsu MLS metal HG but my old 1g head studs were re-used. I know ARP's should have been used in the first place but lack of funds and time(daily driver) made that not an option at the time.

Thanks
 
TURFNNSURF said:
Can this same ARP head stud replacement be done on a 1g? I am experiencing the same coolant pushing problem as pboglio was.
...
Bar's headgasket fix have not worked,
...
I saw this first hand at my last Dyno session. I should also mention that when I had the cylinder head rebuilt and ported N polished, it was installed on top of a Mitsu MLS metal HG but my old 1g head studs were re-used.
...
I know ARP's should have been used in the first place but lack of funds and time(daily driver) made that not an option at the time.

Thanks

Did you follow the directions completely?

My argument is that you should have improved the clamp force before you used the product. Once the solution has turned to glass from combusion you won't be be able to clamp it down any tighter for this will bridge the head up and/or put dents in the head. Your options are to try again with the sealer pulling the involved spark plugs as they recommend on the affected cylrs. It will not disolve what did get converted to glass but you must plug the leaks and then try re-torquing.
.............

I'd like to know why you were on a Dyno with a know weak head gasket in the first place...
..........

You say it had studs before?? What was the torque you used?

Cheers,
GTM
 
diambo4life said:
I don't like your method but if it works fine for you, good deal. ;) You really should have removed the head and done it correctly. Oh, well ... :thumb:

I guess that's what makes us different is knowing when you can and when you cannot do something. It's not always an option when you don't have the great sums of money to keep investing in what might be a transportation car that takes them to their job. It just rubs me the wrong way when someone says you should have "done it correctly". You are placing yourself as some sort of authority on correctnes as if they know nothing and have an unlimited budget and unlimited time to make repairs. This is not your call and I don't understand the intent.

Cheers,
GTM
 
diambo4life said:
I don't like your method but if it works fine for you, good deal. ;) You really should have removed the head and done it correctly. Oh, well ... :thumb:


Agreed! -The only reason that you didn't have the problems with the ARP's washers is because you were not lowering the head down on the studs that were already installed in the block... The solution: Use some of that Moly lube that comes with the ARPs and use it to hold the washers in place on the head before you lower it onto the studs, HG, & block.

I forgot to do that step, and ended up having to "D" shape two washers to get them to clear the valve springs, while trying to work around the studs that protruded up from the block.

I did this while I was replacing the head & HG... I hope the band-aid works for you, man! I ended up ‘retorqueing’ my OE head bolts on the OE HG back at the 90k mark, for similar reasons... That helped it along for another 20K (then I lost my T-Belt), so I don't know how long that it would have actually lasted. I imagine that you will have better luck with the ARPs then I would have had with my OE “stretch” bolts I had at the time (11mm studs also, as I have a 1G 7 bolt). I then went with the same ARPs you’ve got to go along with the new head & HG (I ended up with the final torque of 76 ft/lbs with ARP's Moly Lube).

I wish you the best of luck, man!
 
Well thanks for thread I have been wondering about this for a while and was planning on starting one to ask if it was ok to do. my headgasket is fine but I will prob put in some arp's because we all just can't get enough boost.

bob
 
GTM said:
Did you follow the directions completely?

My argument is that you should have improved the clamp force before you used the product. Once the solution has turned to glass from combusion you won't be be able to clamp it down any tighter for this will bridge the head up and/or put dents in the head. Your options are to try again with the sealer pulling the involved spark plugs as they recommend on the affected cylrs. It will not disolve what did get converted to glass but you must plug the leaks and then try re-torquing.
.............

I'd like to know why you were on a Dyno with a know weak head gasket in the first place...
..........

You say it had studs before?? What was the torque you used?

Cheers,
GTM

GTM,

I did follow the directions completely, with the exception of the final empty and flush direction, because the night time temps were below 32* and I didn't have a heated garage to store the car in overnight. In the above situation the bottle of Bar's said to flush the system one last time then refill with 50/50 water/antifreeze mix. I did. I have a feeling that since the car only pushes coolant into a water jacket above 18psi, that the Bar's couldn't seal the leak since no coolant is being pulled/sucked into the affected cylinder. If that makes any sense?

The Dyno: Up until Nov., 2004 I was running a B16g at 16-17psi. Hense I never saw any coolant loss. When I upgraded to a FMIC and 50 trim, I decided it was time to get back on the dyno for some tuning with the new setup. The first few pulls were at lower boost 15 -18spi to dial in the fuel. Then we went for a 20 psi pull, the first run was fine producing 300awhp and 280ftlbs/tq. The next run I saw coolant dripping out of the overflow tube and called off the pull.

The studs: I had the head work done at Turbotrix. When the Head was replaced I was asked about studs, but they needed to be ordered and the wait was just to much. I had already run up a large enough bill between those repairs and a rental car for 4 weeks. I assume that the original 1g studs were re-used and torqued to factory spec buy Jeff Hill's team. When I picked up the car, I asked about any break-in period and if I needed to return to thave the head re-torqued and I was told it was NOT needed. I was told, and I quote, "You're good to go, have fun with it, you'll be fine for the import vs. domestic shootout in two weeks." Two weeks later I ran my 13.9 @ 101mph on a B16g @ 16psi on pump gasand stock side mount. I had no complaints then. Everything seemed fine then.
 
TURFNNSURF, do the ARP head stud install, you'll be thanking me later :D I put this off for way too long. For the other guys, with 9 other headbolts putting over 100,000 lbs of combined clamping force on the headgasket, how is pulling one at a time going to have a negative affect? Is it better to let a headgasket go completely?

As an update, I'm on my 3rd or 4th heat cycle and the result, no more coolant pushing period. On the last run I did, I tried so hard to make this thing push coolant, but I actually ran out of gasoline trying. Even after 10-20 3rd gear WOT pulls at 21 psi, coolant temps stabilized around 192-196*F and not an extra ounce of coolant pushed into the overflow tank. It didn't seal 100% right away, which disappointed me at first. But it took maybe 3-4 startup/cooldown cycles to seal completely. There is a technical reason for this I'm sure but I have no idea. So much for a bandaid fix. I'll post back in a week or two but looks good so far.
 
TURFNNSURF said:
GTM,

I did follow the directions completely, with the exception of the final empty and flush direction, because the night time temps were below 32* and I didn't have a heated garage to store the car in overnight. In the above situation the bottle of Bar's said to flush the system one last time then refill with 50/50 water/antifreeze mix. I did. I have a feeling that since the car only pushes coolant into a water jacket above 18psi, that the Bar's couldn't seal the leak since no coolant is being pulled/sucked into the affected cylinder. If that makes any sense?
...

I assume that the original 1g studs were re-used and torqued to factory spec buy Jeff Hill's team. When I picked up the car, I asked about any break-in period and if I needed to return to thave the head re-torqued and I was told it was NOT needed.

It sounds like you skipped the last step of draining and let sit overnight. You should have drained it if it was going to freeze and then filled and run again so it could do the last drying while it was warm.

I don't understand the statement that it only pushes coolant into a water jacket above 18psi???
.................

You keep saying studs, the car came with bolts NOT studs so I'm confused.
........................

pboglio said:
TURFNNSURF, do the ARP head stud install, you'll be thanking me later :D I put this off for way too long. For the other guys, with 9 other headbolts putting over 100,000 lbs of combined clamping force on the headgasket, how is pulling one at a time going to have a negative affect? Is it better to let a headgasket go completely?
...
There is a technical reason for this I'm sure but I have no idea. So much for a bandaid fix. I'll post back in a week or two but looks good so far.

I'm not as hopeful his job will be a success since he never got a seal with the Bar's fix. Now he's got some hard glass trapped in the filler part of the gasket which has fused solid but right next to it he still has passages which allow gas to escape and coolant in. So just clamping down tighter won't solve the problem unless he can get those leaks filled.
(Edit)
Sure there is a tech reason, the head is forcing / crushing the gasket into conforming because of the increased pressure.

(Edit) remove incorrect numbers used in calculations (GTM)

Consider a safety factor of 2.5x for each cylinder which determines what size bolt/stud you need to resist the explosion, remember it's 4 studs.
..................

Just smile when you see all the nay-sayers.

Cheers,
GTM
 
I disagree that there is 240,000 lbs of force generated vertically against the cylinder head, at least in my setup. The 2g head bolts at best provide 118,260 lbs of clamping force across 10 head bolts, given their 3/8" shank diameter and ARP's corresponding bolt tensile force chart. If you exceed this force you have zero clamping load and a leaking headgasket. The ARP 11mm studs provide a clamping force of 16,000 lbs @ 71 ft-lb torque each, for a total of 160,000 lbs clamping force, straight out of ARP's charts. I've just proved that they seal the headgasket tight at my power level, so there sure isn't 240,000 lbs opposing the headbolts.

A cylinder bore with 4" diameter and 2000 psi gas pressure gives me a total across 4 cylinders of 100,000 lbs of force trying to lift the head off the block. As you can see, this is right about where the stock 2g bolts are starting to give up, which is why I pushed coolant under boost. I don't listen to nay-sayers, I use my own judgement based on physics and common sense. Its obvious that the 2g headbolts give up way before the stock headgasket anyway.
 
GTM,

YES, I did not do the last step because it was mid Jan and the temps outside were in the teens. Now if you want to flush your block with water then drain it to sit overnight at 15* outside and take the chance that water is still sitting in low spots in the block. Then have that water freeze and crack your block, go right ahead. You're a braver man than I. When the Directions on the bottle stated to skip the last step due to below freezing temps, that's what I did.

"It only pushes coolant" means that in my case the leak only seems to allow cylinder gasses into the water jacket from one or more of the cylinders through a small leak/s in the headgasket. I have warmed the car up, burped the system of all air and have let it run for 45 minites with the rad cap off and never seen any bubbles from the block at idle. I can drive the car under normal driving conditions daily at 15psi and never have to top off the coolant. However, as soon as I set the MBC for 18-20psi and make one or two WOT pulls or even just hit that boost to get onto the highway for 5 to 7 seconds. When I return home and check the coolant level the overflow bottle is full, I can drain that coolant back into the waterneck and the system is up to normal level again.

The above experience leads me to believe that the headgasket leak I have never got sealed by the Bar's and is mostlikely due to poor clamping pressure between the cylinder head and the block. This brings me to the next point I was trying to make. Just to clarify for you when I say "original 1g studs" I meant OEM head bolts. Bolt or stud they do the same thing, hold the head to the block, just that ARP's can do the job better because more torque can be used to tighten them.

I have no problem with replacing the headgasket if it comes to that, however if I can delay that by installing the ARP right now I'll give it a try. I made a call to Sean Glazer at Extrememe Motorsports He quoted me $1200 to pull the head, replace the HG and install ARP's. IF you ask me that seems out of this world when I can install ARP's myself for around $100 and a couple of hours of my time. Im going to give the ARP's a try first, if it helps my problem i'll be pleased to share my findings in this thread. If it doesn't help and I need to pull the head and replace the HG I'll post that as well.
 
pboglio said:
I disagree that there is 240,000 lbs of force generated vertically against the cylinder head, at least in my setup. The 2g head bolts at best provide 118,260 lbs of clamping force across 10 head bolts, given their 3/8" shank diameter and ARP's corresponding bolt tensile force chart. If you exceed this force you have zero clamping load and a leaking headgasket. The ARP 11mm studs provide a clamping force of 16,000 lbs @ 71 ft-lb torque each, for a total of 160,000 lbs clamping force, straight out of ARP's charts. I've just proved that they seal the headgasket tight at my power level, so there sure isn't 240,000 lbs opposing the headbolts.

A cylinder bore with 4" diameter and 2000 psi gas pressure gives me a total across 4 cylinders of 100,000 lbs of force trying to lift the head off the block. As you can see, this is right about where the stock 2g bolts are starting to give up, which is why I pushed coolant under boost. I don't listen to nay-sayers, I use my own judgement based on physics and common sense. Its obvious that the 2g headbolts give up way before the stock headgasket anyway.

Yeow thanks for correcting me for this application, I'm now wondering where I got those numbers, possible from some diesel running 22:1 compression.

Where did you find the Arp chart giving the numbers you cited?

Cheers,
GTM
 
GTM said:
I guess that's what makes us different is knowing when you can and when you cannot do something. It's not always an option when you don't have the great sums of money to keep investing in what might be a transportation car that takes them to their job. It just rubs me the wrong way when someone says you should have "done it correctly". You are placing yourself as some sort of authority on correctnes as if they know nothing and have an unlimited budget and unlimited time to make repairs. This is not your call and I don't understand the intent.

Cheers,
GTM

I'm not imposing any authority on correctness at all. :) I was just stating a personal opinion, thus, he really should have pulled the head, had it resurfaced, cleaned and prepped the block deck, installed a NEW head gasket, cleaned all the head stud bores, installed the studs into the block - DRY (no locktite stuff) etc. As I said in my earlier post, if it works for him well, Kudos! But if it does not, he should know why. ;) It's not my call but it is my opinion and I'm entitled to one. What he did was just a band aid to the problem. :) I wish him the best .. again.

Cheers. :thumb:
 
GTM said:
Yeow thanks for correcting me for this application, I'm now wondering where I got those numbers, possible from some diesel running 22:1 compression.

Where did you find the Arp chart giving the numbers you cited?

Cheers,
GTM

GTM,
Your peak cylinder pressure values seems right on, according to Engine Analyzer Pro. Here is ARP's chart: http://www.arp-bolts.com/pages/tech/images/fasttorq.pdf

The yield stress rating of ARP's bolt material is 190,000-200,000 psi, although the threaded portion lowers this actual value. The bolt material yield stress, bolt cross sectional area, and ARP's fastener tensile strength bolt chart all correlate with each other pretty closely. All I know is the darned things work, knock on wood.

TURFNNSURF,
Summit racing has the ARP 12mm studs for $82.39 + $8 handling. It took 2 days for the ARP 11mm kit to reach me from Ohio. The head studs come with a hex head on them, so installing them is a cinch. Here's a tip, full engagement of the head stud in the head is 19 full turns of your allen wrench before bottoming out. They should be finger tight only. Most of this stuff is in the instructions anyhow. They give you 1 tube of moly-lube, which I was not sparing with and still have about half the container left. This mod is so ridiculously easy to do. Its about as labor intensive as changing the airfilter, every bolt is right there in front of you with no obstructions. I followed ARP's instructions almost to the letter, they are pretty detailed.

Diambo4life,
You are talking about an idealized situation, I agree with you on most points, EXCEPT one. If you read the ARP instructions it cleary states: "Loctite may be used if a permanent mounting of the studs is preferred. The fasteners, however, must be torqued prior to the loctite setting up." [3c note]
 
TURFNNSURF said:
GTM,

YES, I did not do the last step because it was mid Jan and the temps outside were in the teens. Now if you want to flush your block with water then drain it to sit overnight at 15* outside and take the chance that water is still sitting in low spots in the block. Then have that water freeze and crack your block, go right ahead. You're a braver man than I. When the Directions on the bottle stated to skip the last step due to below freezing temps, that's what I did.
...

I say "original 1g studs" I meant OEM head bolts. Bolt or stud they do the same thing, hold the head to the block, just that ARP's can do the job better because more torque can be used to tighten them.
...
installing the ARP right now I'll give it a try. I made a call to Sean Glazer at Extrememe Motorsports He quoted me $1200 to pull the head, replace the HG and install ARP's. IF you ask me that seems out of this world when I can install ARP's myself for around $100 and a couple of hours of my time. Im going to give the ARP's a try first, if it helps my problem i'll be pleased to share my findings in this thread. If it doesn't help and I need to pull the head and replace the HG I'll post that as well.

Your block and head would not have been in danger from cracking if you drained the coolant. The condition may only come when the cooling system is full and the ice has no place to expand. If you have noticed ice cubes made in a tray will be convex on the top from the expansion so since you have nothing preventing this from happening it won't exert that force. I have never seen a cracked block, I have seen many "freeze plugs" that have popped out when engines have frozen. This doesn't mean a cracked block can't happen but I suspect this may be on very old engines before freeze plugs were used.
...

It should be pointed out that in the context of bolt and stud applications in highly stressed areas it is common that studs will be made from a higher grade alloy. In theory it should cost more to make a bolt for you must have a forge die of complex shape to make the head vs the shank. Whereas a stud is just a couple of grooves in the the dies if it has been forged at all.

I didn't mean to suggest not to try the sutds, I did feel (an opinion) that your success chances may not be as high if the Bar's did set up in some critical areas. My own personal experiences using sodium silicate when combined with an aluminum head were not successful and I was at max torque with factory fastners. I examined the gasket and found no fused glass, only a fine powder which could be wiped away with fingers. I did not attempt any further examination of this powder which was snow white.

Not having to worry about freezing I'd not noted the skip final step in the directions. I've alway been skeptical of the claims of some products, I do know it has worked in "cylinder block" applications but there is no head gasket involved.

I would like to hear a followup when/if you elect to make the stud substitutions as described. I would suggest that you probably should do this when it's not freezing and certainly not when the engine is hot.

Cheers,
GTM
 
I wanted to follow up on the ARP head stud install with a 2-3 week update. I'm not pushing coolant anymore, not even a single drop. Also, my coolant temps have never been this low, right around 192-196*F. It took about 2-3 weeks for the headgasket seal to get really watertight. But what a major improvement, I don't have to pop the hood everytime I drive the car now or even look at the water temps on the logger. Best $88 I ever spent on my car. Cheers.
 
Just bringing this thread back; what was everyone's 'pattern' for removing the stock headbolts? Is there a specific order you have to go through when you remove/install each new stud?
 
I'm in the middle of a head stud install w/o removal of head. The first bolt has been unscrewed all the way, the only thing needed is to pull the bolt from its shaft.

The problem arises when I try to pull the bolt out. It seems/feels as if the bolt as 'expanded' on the block side of the threads, yet I could screw it back down on the block. The bolt will not come out of its barrel as if its stuck on something. Has anybody experienced this problem before, if so, what did you do?

The block was a 7bolt? rebuilt block by a mitsu dealership when I got it.

From what I was told by everyone that's done it already, this should of been a easy install...
 
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