One bolt at a time just doesn't work. The asied form the fact that you are working with an aluminum head, modern head gaskets are usually spec'd for torque to yeild. Removing one bolt will affect the clamping load of the head to the engine. I guess the other obvious point is how critical an evenly torqued head is, especially on a turbo car. More head gaskets fail after a rebuild simply due to being poorly torqued, reuse of bolts, and the head surface not being true.
As for Rod bolts, it is not a good idea either. You essentially unload one half of the cap and therefore the bearings can be disturbed. I don't see how anyone would want to do the bolts in the car, if they are pressed in, how are you going to get them out and back in while they are still inside the block? Miniature press I guess.

On a related note, most machine shops will not garentee the work if they do not assemble the motor. The reason is, who knows what people do when they assemble. As an example, allowing an assembled piston and rod to rock and have the piston skirt hit the rod will cause cracks in the skirt, you can't see them but they are there.

 

I agree on all points and that it's a mickey mouse way of doing it, but people are actually seriously considering doing the swaps without an overhaul. So one's gotta wonder how they're going to get by the cheap and easy way, which may turn out costly later....

 

Why the hate? I love the Evo and the STi. More turbo+AWD cars in the pool = more companies researching and developing go fast parts and more competitive pricing. I traded a decently modded WRX wagon that I enjoyed very much(read: it was faster than my stock Evo is now) to get this car, and I'm a huge fan of both platforms! No need to be a hater and call them ****, dude.

 

when they say pressed in they dont mean they need to be pressed out by a press. Loosening one rod bolt and tapping the bolt out with a brass punch will hurt nothing, that's what I do when rebuilding a motor, inside or outside the car. When you're building a motor you will torque every bolt to spec and release to check clearances. It doesn't hurt a thing. As far as the head stud replacement, if done one at a time with a cold engine with no coolant in the head there will be no problem. These head gaskets are metal layered and therefore are not as sensitive to squeeze as older fiber/copper gaskets used to be.

 

You probably detonated. The Mitsubishi ECU is good at curbing detonation, but it can't work miracles. Detonation creates extreme pressures in the combustion chamber, and the head gasket is the first thing to go. Which is good, because otherwise the repair bill could be much higher.

Doing half-assed internal engine work is a great way to destroy something.

Do not replace the rod bolts without resizing the big end of the rods. That means removing the rods and pistons from the engine. If you don't know what resizing is, or why you should do it, you are not ready to delve into the block.

 

The really sucks dude but I hope you get her running right soon. I was planning on 350whp stock turbo and internals, is that still safe??? How much whp were you pushing and what times were you running?

 

You guys have 93 octane in Chicago, right? I agree with ShapeGSX, detonation had to be the culprit. How lean were you running it with the e-Manage, and had you changed the rev limiter point?

Most importantly, what were you doing when it finally popped?

 

We had the car tuned to where it was safe to on 93 octane gas. I was actually just driving normally when t happened, but te night before is what did it. So heres the story: It was about 3 in the morning and I was gonna go to the track that night. So I decided to practice my luanches and stifts. Then I finally get a red light and I knew there was about a half mile for me to practice on. Light turns green and I luanch it (Best luanch I've ever done, no tire screech until the rears came over the white line.) and just gunned it till forth and then et off. When I stopped and started going agian, I knotied a clicking noise. I thought it was the clutch because the car just felt shaky and there was a vibration in the clutch pedal. Then the noises went away so I thought the car was fine. The next day I was on my way to Northern Illinois University because I had to move in beore the track. On I88 going west my boost was just all over the place and I decided to slow down and pull over. As I got into the middle lane my oil light startedgoing on and off, and then when I got into the right lane my motor blew.

 

I've looked at it and it seems that the headgasket pushed. I've talked to a few people and they've seen the stock head bolts stretch pretty bad once you start making some good power. Head bolt strech or detonation was the culprit here. Coolant mixed with the oil (there was a lot of coolant in the oil!) and the oil lost it's lubricating properties. Looks like the crank seized.

Yes you can replace the head studs whith the head on the car. Just do one at a time and it will be fine. We put head studs on our car when it was making about 350whp. Now we're at 390-395whp with no problems.

Martin

 

Whether you can or can't bottom line is it is still not the correct way. It is one of those things you could probalbly get by with and have no problems but, if there is a better way to do it why not do it.

 

a guy that works in the field EVERY day gave the same advice I gave about installing the head studs,(I also work on cars everyday), Yes it is safe. Of course if the head was off then that is always better, but the hassle of pulling a head is not worth the effort since it will turn out to be ok.

 

Why is it not the correct way? (Rember that the EVO8 has a MLS (multi layer steel) headgasket and not a composite headgasket).

 

So you left the original head gasket on and just pulled the bolts and dropped in the studs and torqued them down one at a time? did the cams need to come off? more info please, I think a lot of us will be doing this soon.

 

Apparently not...

 

When you remove the head bolts one at a time, you are unloading the head at that point. This can cause warping, especially with aluminum. The issue is not the gaskets' cylinder sealing but more the sealing around the water passages, etc.
I guess the real question is, how are you properly cleaning the threads before the studs go in if the head is on.
I spoke to a friend of mine about this tonight (he runs a machine shop, father has also for 20 years, they are well respected in this area). He can give examples left and right about things like this.
He made a really good point about the rod bolts too. ARP says they need to be pressed properly. Realisitically you need to recondition the rod if you are replacing the bolts. New rod bolts will have a different clamping effect then the ones coming out and will affect the clearance of the bearing. He has seen this first hand on a motor where you replace the rod bolts and the lost the clearance on the bearings and bound the rods up. We aren't talking about people who use plasticgage to build motors ,either.

But if you want to do it, go for it. It's all up to you really.
You are talking about the internals of the engine here. I would want to do it right once then do it over again.

Oh and the coolant in the oil was the reason for the oil light. Coolant and bearings (rod, main) don't mix. They will wipe out or get spun and you will lose oil pressure. I forgot to mention that on my original post above.