im putting my head studs in the block. ARP says to hand tighten them and when i do that they all go in at different depths. some only go in a few turns while some bottom out.

Does this matter? should i hand tighten them like this and then bolt everything down? or should i use an allen wrench to bottom out all the head studs?

 

please, someone so i can go back out to the garage.

 

Chase the threads with a tap to clean them.

 

arg, i dont have a tap!

 

a guy at speedway motors told me to torque them down to about 15 ft 1bs of torque. I havnt done it to my B18 yet. Call ARP and do a bigger search here on HT.

 

You could use a stiff bristed bottle brush if you don't have a tap.

 

ill look around and see what i can find. thanks guys.

 

good news... i got 3 down,

 

You could also try jamming two nuts together and turning the studs in with a wrench.

 

i know, i would have done that, but it tells you to hand tighten them?

Do you think it would matter?

Im guessing they just dont want you to tighten too far into the block.

 

Yea, that's after you know the threads are clean. The studs should all be the same height, don't do a half-assed install. A tap at sears or autozone will cost $10.