Hello guys noobs here ,
just like the title of this post said , do I need to upgrade stock head studs when boosting 20psi or more ?.
My evo 8 is currently making 380's hp with e85 and other supporting mods.
I'm planing on upgrading my stock intercooler and stock evo 8 turbo to td05hr 20g turbo and a o2 housing.
keep in mind I do not do any heavy track , drag race, or a lot of spirit driving ,just your daily driving street car (only some time wot).

 

No. I was running 30psi on stock turbo and 27psi on a 3586 with stock head bolts for years and never had an issue

 

i did it for extra insurance. they aren't that expensive so no point in cutting corners

 

i did it too.$100 studs and $120 labor,why not?

 

Not installing head studs when they arent needed isnt "cutting corners"

Its wasted money. You have more chance messing up the factory head gasket seal trying to cut corners and install head studs one at a time....aka the wrong way. No shop is gonna pull a head and install head studs for 120 bucks

 

This^^^^
If you have the head off its another story--if not dont. Running 27psi in stock 85k on motor for years now. The 1 x 1 removal and replacement isnt what you want to do

 

I agree , when I upgrade the cylinder head i'll upgrade both the hg and head studs all together.
Thanks for the info guys.

 

op,I'm not gonna talk about same stuff again.1 by 1 for $120 or taking the head off and do it for $500.mine was done by reputable shop in Chicago 1 by 1.i run 27-30psi on E85 for 3 years now.you decide.many ppl still have stock studs without problems.it's all tune not boost.but to me it was affordable so i installed it.




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General rule of thumb I've always heard is you do the studs when you are approaching 30 psi of boost. I know there are probably a lot of guys boosting 30 psi on stock studs so I don't need 1000 replies saying "I do that and its fine" I'm just saying its a great idea to do them @ 30 psi. And by the way 1x1 works fine.

 

If its a mainly street driven car then I wouldn't worry about until you have the head off. If you plan to race it regularly then I would spend the money, or do it yourself if you have the abilities, the correct way by taking the head off and install the ARP studs. I had a failure at the track due to the oem head bolts. Funny thing was I was planning on installing ARP studs the following week. The first purchase I made on my rebuild was ARP head studs.

Maybe chose to do it when you decide to get aftermarket cams. These cars are pretty straightforward to work on, I say save the money on paying a shop, if you can afford to have the car down then I recommend everyone to do their own work. You will learn a lot out of it and appreciate your car and modifications more.

 

30 psi for the last 4 years. 228,000 miles. Drag raced and daily driven. Stock head bolts. Find a good tuner instead.

 

I'm with tommi I do about 90% of my own work. But then again I've been working on cars as a hobby for almost 20 years. I wouldn't recommend doing anything on your own though if you're not familiar with a wrench.

 

Nightwalker is correct if your tuner can keep the knock down you don't HAVE to do it but there's already so many threads on here about arp studs. Should I do it should I not do it. I did it because my tuner was pushing the limits of my set up quite a bit so I fall into the "cheap insurance" group of people. If the heads off its dumb to not do it, I did it with the head still on though, the 1x1 method about 20k miles ago and everything is still all good.

 

Im just saying the 1x1 method isnt the correct way you do head studs. Someone mentioned that keeping head bolts is cutting corners.... No, doing the 1x1 method is cutting corners. You can cause more harm then good doing it that way. Ive seen it happen.

If you wanna do studs, pull the head. Any proper evo shop would not do the 1x1 method nor would i even think of paying a shop to do that to my car

Just like tommiM said, on a street car dont worry about it.

 

You couldn't pay me to install head studs 1x1. Some have gotten away with it most end up with leaking.

Pull the head replace the HG or don't replace them until the head needs to come off.

1x1 = Half Assed IMO