I now about 6 evos that have done the 1x1 including my self on my old setup and on my girls evo no problems. The only down side is that in time your going gasket is slowley going to leak oil mostly on the fire wall side of the block. So dont take any short cuts just get a new Gasket and do it right the first time Charles.

 

yup done mine and friends cars with no problems just do when motor is bone cold- use a good torque wrench going in increments like 35ft-lbs then back off 50ftlbs back off then 65ft-lbs back off then 78 or so ft-lbs- 1x1 in order as the manual says to take out the headstuds-X pattern- then heat car to operating temperture- let cool down completely again- pull valve cover and retorque to 78 or so

 

I did mine 30,000 miles ago and have a slight leak....just combustion air escaping into the coolant system and making it overflow on 1-4 pulls. This is with the evo green and cracking off low 11s with it and 80,000 on the stock block with 24 psi of boost and e85.

 

My car and every car I personally know, did the 1x1 install. EVERY car leaks oil down the back of the block. Although I've done a bunch of track days with this stupid leak and it seems OK, I'm now pulling the head and fixing it, as did all my buddies.

 

28,000 miles and 20 months on 1x1 ARP's done by DB Performance in Rogers, MN. Ran the entire time w/ alky, 28-29psi peak and now making ~360whp (heartbreaker dyno dynamics dyno) on a stock IX turbo.

 

Don't suppose they all had them installed by the same person/shop?

 

No oil down the back of the block on mine, not sure what causes that...

 

Sounds to me like they were not removed and reinstalled in the proper pattern. I did mine correctly but I had a turbo coolant line blow off and i lost like a gallon of coolant....also had a radiator failure.. These two issues combined with my 1x1 headstud install all contributed to why I have a leaky headgasket...cant blame a single one but I can blame them all

 

Done by 3 different people, all skilled mechanics with proper tools. Started in the middle and worked out.

Overall I think it's hit or miss, but it happens for sure - so the process in general doesn't have a great track record.

 

Torquing them properly is a key to success. starting low and working all the way up to the recommended torque spec (71 lbs on the standard ones), then taking the valve cover off after a few hundred miles and doing it again. If it wasn't done like this, chances are it won't last as long. It still might not work all the way, but this should help.

 

All of that was done on the cars I know that ended up leaking.

Another thing to note is that we all thought we were OK for the first year. It was around 1 year after the installs that we all starting figuring out we had a problem.

 

I think a lot of people have done this install and don't even realize they are leaking oil because it is a small amount and it is on the back of the block. All the Evo's I have seen with 1x1 studs have leaked on the back of the block eventually.

 

I would agree with that.

I have the leak and my studs were installed by AMS. Don't know how much more reputable you can get than that. But, unless you are under your car a lot and are looking for it, you won't notice it, at least not right away.

Anyway, there is never a drop of oil on the ground or anything like that. But, every time I change my oil, I see the oil on the back of the block and some even gets down to the back of the oil pan. Every oil change now, I wipe everything down as good as I can and as far up as I can reach on the block.

I'm eventually just going to have to replace the headgasket, but I'm just putting it off for now, deciding on whether I want to build the head at the same time, etc.

I think the moral of the story here is that the proper way to do head studs is to take off the head. You are risking a leak with the 1x1 method.



Eric

 

Ding ding ding, we have a winner - I totally agree.

It took me a year to notice. The only reason I did was because I'm always under the car checking things out. The oil on the back of the block gets stuck there as it attracts dirt and grime. I never saw a drop of oil on the garage until I cleaned the block after getting tired of seeing the oil and grime there every oil change. After I cleaned the grime off I did get drops on the garage floor until the grime built back up.

This problem was the catalyst to me building a stroker motor, since I had things apart.

 

I swapped out my IM/TB about 20k miles after the 1x1's were done, no signs of an oil leak on my car (I'm lucky, or DB Performance is the place to go for this I guess?):



High res: http://www.scheides.com/gallery/evo-...MG_5102?full=1