I can't see how oil on the threads down in the block would have a significant impact on the torque of the nuts. The studs don't turn when you torque down the nuts and you don't torque the studs at all. I imagine that ARP's instructions are geared toward head bolts, not studs, but I could be wrong. Heatcycling and retorquing is a really good point, especially for forced induction. Lots of good tech info. in this thread for those considering this mod (I'm not).

 

When you're torquing the nuts, you are actually pulling the stud from the block. Remember there is a difference between "working" and "working optimally". There's a reason why ARP has specific instructions with their head studs. The moly lube that ARP includes with their studs is a friction modifier, which helps the studs stay in place better than regular oil.

As Mark from TurboTrix reported, he has seen a lot of arp head studs come loose over time. This is due to vibration from the engine. Having dirty threads is probably a contributing factor to this.

 

Great write up on the head studs........

 

alright first i'd like to thank turbodan for these instructions! but for you non mechanical gurus out there there have been some basic steps left out. mostly just the very beginning where you need to remove everything to get the valve cover off. no biggie tho, it's very basic and straight forward.

biggest thing i noticed tho is that if turbodan didn't post that there were two bolts (maybe 3) that are a pain in the a$$ i would've quit at the very first one. i'm not one that likes to force things so if i didn't know that the first two bolts were a pain i would've quit thinking that i was doing it wrong. anyway to add to it there are 3 bolts that a a major pita! the first one i pulled out was hard but it only took two trys and it was out. the second one took me more than 5 minutes but eventually came out along with a few cuss words. but dan left out #9! that was the hardest cuz it is too tight to get a good pair of pliers on the head of the bolt. i had to have a friend hold it up with a magnet while i wedged a pry bar under the bolt head and popped it out. be very careful when you do this not to nick the surface of the head around the spark plug hole and also it is very close to the cam lobe so watch what you are doing or you may scratch the lobe. don't force the pry bar cause if you do it may shoot up and hit something with some good force. just apply SOME pressure until it pops out. if you have a friend helping have him hold a rag over it while you are doing it just incase it does shoot out. anyway the rest went like cake! now the only thing left is to run it at 26lbs at the track and see if it holds! i hope i'm not one of those people that have arp studs fail! (knock on wood)!

 

So, do you actually torque the studs down, or just the nuts?

 

the instructions just say hand tight on the studs. to me thats kinda vague cause what if i were stronger than the next guy? i just tightened mine down as tight as i could with the allen wrench. since i was using a small allen wrench and was tightening it with the short end i didn't get much leverage so i figured i just tighten it as tight as i could (well almost). not sure if that is good or not but like i said "hand tight" is vague to me. now some here said finger tight but the instructions said hand.

 

...

 

Hand tight, they mean no tools. It's not a big issue but you should just make sure the stud is installed fully. No need to tighten them.

 

Did the intsall tonight, took lots of picts. Keep an eye on my web page for the how-to with picts

How many miles should we re-torque the nuts? Another dumb question, what's the process to cycle torque the bolts?

 

Just wanted to give an update. I retorqued my head studs and had found that one stud wasn't seated properly, there was too much oil in the sleve. So I used a qtip to carefully asorb all the oil and it reseated properly. I decided to go up to 80ft# using the ARP lube.

 

I'm gonna have to use this when I get my cams and headstuds

 

I took my car in for an estimate and the technician said i should really change the head gasket.... I would do it myself... Is it anything like Hondas??? I've always changed my head gasket on my Honda.... But now i have a Evo.... which is way better...!!! but kinda scared to do it myself.... But don't have to change head gaskets, huh...???

 

I am bring this thread back to live!
I was going to do the head studs this weekend along with my camshafts; however, I might not do it just because it could be true that I should not touch it if it ain't broke. I am still debating...

I am reading the service manual and find that using the stock headstuds, I should torque it to 58 ft-lb in this sequence:
8-6-1-3-9
10-4-2-5-7
Then, loosen them all again in a reverse order. And finally re-tighten the loosened bolts to 15 ft-lb in the above sequence again.

What's up with that? I guess it doesn't apply to us who is using this one-bolt-at-a-time method huh?

 

I just did my head studs last week.
it's quite simply one at a time in the order you have written
please NOTE: it says on the manual torque to 65 ft lbs
THAT'S if it's a clean install with no motor oil around and with the head off
since your using the 1 by 1 method you can actually use the motor oil as the lube for your studs but with 10w-30 weight motor oil you need to torgue them to 85 ft lbs to be same as the clean install of 65 ft lbs

 

In order to use the tightening sequence we need to know which number each head bolt is. Anyone have a diagram? Thanks