Put in the ARP studs finger tight and put on the head gasket after copper spraying. However after going 25ft lbs and then going to 50ft lbs I had 2 while torquing coming loose feeling and required much more force to torque down. So while waiting for the nuts to cool off before going 80ft lbs I started reading and thinking and I got worried.

I found where Muckman said:


So better safe than sorry I undid all the 50ft lb nuts in the correct removal sequence and I torqued down the ARP studs to 11ft lbs thinking my problem was the studs obviously twisting in the block. But now I have a head that is loose again and a gasket that was crushed to 50ft lbs. I could hear the copper spray sticky sound when it came loose.


Anyways my question is should I remove the head, re-clean, re-spray? And is the head gasket toast after 50ft lbs? Didn't realize they were $90 a pop!

 

LOL nevermind. Went to take the head off and the head gasket got stuck and I rage removed the head out of frustration and now the head gasket is bent and toast.

The struggle is real

 

The gasket wouldve been fine. You can reuse them if they arent burnt up.

Buy a felpro gasket.

 

Wish you would have been around 4 hours ago.

 

First part, I agree... Second part... Well. I'll say this.. I'd never thought I'd hear that suggestion...But I suppose it's best for me to remain silent.

 

$90 mistakes suck. I grabbed another OEM one.

 

300whp over 15 events, dyno time testing time. the gasket held up just fine. There isnt any technology in a multi layered gasket is there? Do oem gaskets fail?

 

Your car makes quite a bit more than 300whp right?

 

Well talked to an ARP tech:

He said he had no idea why 2 of the nuts would feel like they went from tight to less resistance to turn. He said they stud shouldn't have moved in the block. (stud had to have moved in the block)

I also questioned him about the 10-15ft lb torquing of the studs in the block. He said absolutely do not do that and that it can cause numerous issues ranging from

- The studs being ****-eyed and not lining up correctly when putting the head on
- Through the heat cycles of the motor it can cause the studs to bow and warp
- Worst case if there is lube in the bottom of the bolt hole of the block it can cause hydro lock if the stud is torqued in and can crack the block

 

Like anything else, there are good and bad products made from differing materials. Again, not judging. I have to say, I personally have had the OEM HG fail, but that was due to another issue, not the head gasket itself being of issue.
Just an... interesting recommendation. I've used OEM, APex'i , and HKS headgaskets (back when those companies were making them.)

 

Even more research is actually showing NOT to only hand tighten the studs. https://honda-tech.com/forums/drag-r...-specs-494573/

Very interesting. Would love to hear others opinions on this.

 

Ive always snugged mine for the same reason you made this thread.



Snug them and tq the head down

 

Well I spoke with Golden Eagle today and asked if you could torque down the studs to 10ft lbs vs just finger tight.

They said that is exactly what they do to their engines, 9-10ft lbs for the studs into the block vs the suggested finger tight by ARP.

 

Good to know. Now you have a SOLID answer

 

The Golden Eagle studs are a different design than the ARP studs... the GE's have a "Dog Bone" at the bottom and thus actually bottom out in the hole... and this is why a torque specification is provided/utilized. The GE design is VASTLY superior to the ARP product. Too bad they don't still offer them... they NOW sell ARP. Heheh

 

And just like that, the answer is now unsolid.

Lol.

 

This motor is never getting done. 😂

 

No, they were specifically talking about ARP studs. Their quote went as this:

"That's exactly what we do 9 to 10ft lbs. We get them finger tight, then snug them up. We tested the torque on this method and it came out to 10ft lbs"

 

I remember those GE studs. They were cool.

 

Would you guys go with the GE studs over these ARP ones?

 

Nooo just snug them and tq the damn head.

 

Just wanted to clarify and give more information to this as to anyone in the future coming across this.

Spoke with Golden Eagle the second time due to this post:

Turns out his suggestion of "We do 10ft lbs too" might not have applied to ARP studs. Today I got from them that they didn't know that ARP studs didn't also have the dog bone like their studs. The suggestion of torquing to 10ft lbs was not repeated once this was acknowledged. Actually he said that all 10 of my holes in the block needed time-serts but I just said thanks and got off the phone.

Luckily shortly after that I got on the phone with Jeff at CSS. Jeff said he would never torque the studs in the block and that my setup was fine. He did say however to check the threads on the studs and nuts to make sure they would go on smooth. Ironically 2 out of the 8 studs did have rough areas but I don't think this was attributed to my problem as they were different studs. He said ARP is **** QC and he has seen this issue many times before.

So in closing I will be taking the studs out of the block per Jeff's suggestion (at this point they are 11ft lbs) and I will be putting them in finger tight and as said above "snug them". However I will be doing this with a 1/4 torque wrench and I'm guessing 2-5ft lbs or somewhere about. At the least they will all be at the same height and "snugness".

 

... or PM me and I will direct you to a set of the GOOD STUFF !!! Dog Bone for the win babee !!!

 

I can buy a set of the Golden Eagle bolts now new, but I just can't justify $240 on them when I have a set of new $160 ARP bolts.

 

Why not just link it here in case someone is interested? If I knew there were other options besides the standard ARP and L19 I may have done something different with whatever "dog bone" design this is.

And lmao at GE telling you that you need timeserts now. My personal experiences with GE customer support have been enough for me to never want to rely on them for any machining or personal work. I think the only GE product I have on my car is the squirter blockoffs and the cam gears.