how many lbs of boost can the stock headstuds hold?

reason im asking is because on my englishracing tune, im spiking 28-29lbs of boost running 94-95 octane on the stock turbo.
im reading and doing some research, and their seems to be some who say its not necessary yet cause im still on the stock turbo and not running e85 yet, and then there are those who say that its necessary anytime you boost over 24-25lbs of boost.


arp headstuds are in my horizon but just wanted to know how soon i shud consider installing them? car has 52k on it. thanx guys!

 

I never did on mine while it was stock

 

It's entirely up to you. I would hate to have you hit it hard once and lift a head.
Granted, head gasket technology is much better now than it was back then.

 

I say do it, and knock it out now while you can. Bug thing is, installing them wont hurt anything. Your keeping it safe, so go for it man.

 

unless your planning on modding your car more seriously in the near future, it might be a good idea to throw them in when you do the 60k service. when you do the belt, toss some cams and studs in there.

like everyone else said, its cheap insurance. just like a fuel pump, might not be necessary at low boost, but the repercussions could be awful. just my thoughts...

 

thank for the imput guys. and yes, i will be installing them in the next month or so (as soon as my tax return comes in) , i guess i just wanted to know if i'm in any "real" danger not having them on when i spike 28-29lbs.

 

I have yet to see any evo lift a head on high boost and stock turbo. Plenty of my friends run 28-30 psi without problems and have been doing it for years. I see a lot of leaking head threads after the install but I never see any threads of somebody actually lifting one. The DSMers seem to of scared everyone into thinking they need them.

 

I am currently making more than 450whp with an HTA Green on an entirely stock motor. No issues with my stock bolts. Also, if you do it, you may want to check out MAPs headstuds - awesome stuff (better than ARP IMHO).

 

dont fix whats not broken
and if you do decide to change the head studes make sure you do it right by taking the head off and replacing the headgasket. Do not do the 1x1 methed

 

^+1 I agree because I've heard of problems when 1x1 method was used as opposed to removing the head. I'd say do this when you also replace timing belt, cams if you're going to upgrade your turbo also.

 

whoa whoa....the 1x1 method is bad??? i thought it was ok?

 

if you do the 1x1 method chances are you might break the good seal that you have right now. as long as you have a good tune with no knock you shouldn't worry about the stock head bolts

 

90k miles on my engine, stock head seal and bolts. I boost to 30psi at least once each morning to drop off the kids, on the way to work, to lunch, back home, to whatever and have been doing so for years (5+). The only things I've destroyed are IAC's, exhaust manifolds, tires, and clutchs.

Ignition advance and slow burning fuel will lift heads, not boost.

 

574whp, 29psi on pump gas, no issues.

434whp, 34psi on E85, no issues.

???Whp, 38psi on C16, no issues.

Lorenzo, you are fine not doing headstuds. Trust me I wouldnt steer you wrong. If it was a fresh motor build then yeah it needs headstuds. The whole need for head studs came from bad tuning in the early days of the stock ECU tuning. Poor understanding of how the timing maps were working, LOTS of Detonation, too lean in some cases, and in most WAY TOO MUCH timing.

Things are far different now. No knocklight in the middke of a pull that you know the intercooler isnt heatsoaked is

aaron

 

running an s256 on 30psi for about a year now on stock head bolts