Sup everyone. Ok so I am about to do a head gasket on my B16 and I was told by my parts department that there is a service bulliten about these head gaskets. I guess the old ones were 2 layers and these new ones are 3. With this extra layer will I need to replace the head bolts? If I do, would going with an aftermarket performance brand such as ARP give me any major benefits over stock? I work for Honda so if I need to replace them I can get a nice employee discount. But if it will cost me twice as much to go with aftermarket compared to stock and there really isn't any major benefits from it I will wait until I build the motor...

Internals are all stock components. All I really have is UR under-drive pulleys and adj. cam gears, AEM CAS intake, VAFC II you know, nothin major.

Any advise on this situation would be greatly appreciated... Happy Tuning!!!

 

I am failing to see why you would need ARP. I thought the head bolts were to help deal with increased cylinder pressures, and you are not running nitrous or turbo, so if I were you, I'd stick with stock.

unless anyone else has some experience to the contrary?

 

yeah that's what I figured, eventually I will build the motor and possibly boost it but I don't have the $ to do this right now so why waste $ on expensive $90 ARP head bolts. Anyone else have a say in this???

 

Bump, lunch break, hopefully some more feedback when I get back to work...

 

watch out for bolt/thread stretch. when bolts are torqued down they can actually stretch a lil bit and thats not good if u ever plan on going into the internals or doing a turbo THEN change out to ARP's or something.

HAVE FUN

 

Yeah I ordered the stock head bolts since ARP couldn't confirm if they were aware of this change in head gasket design nor if they had done a redesign. I actually spoke with one of their distributors...

 

do you realize how thick the headgasket really is?

a layer is a couple thousands of an inch

 

dude the layers in the gasket are fractions of a millimeter. you wont need to go aftermarket.

 

I do realize this. Do you not realize what a service bulliten from Honda means? It means they have made a change that effects other areas. Everything is so tight and compact that that 1 extra layer may be 2-3 turns on the head bolts. This 2-3 turns could make the difference between replacing the head gasket in another month, or 4 years. Thats all, I just don't wanna blow my **** up and when they put out a service bulliten sayin "new head gasket design, head bolts MUST be updated" I follow what they say.

 

if you're worried, buy new bolts...but i think you don't NEED new bolts

also if you look at the threads of a head bolt, they are very fine threads and i doubt you will need 2-3 more turns

 

dude you will not need aftermarket bolts to use an OEM product PERIOD. Thats whay its called OEM. if you are running an OEM head gasket then OEM bolts will suffice. No debating it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by monicle &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">dude you will not need aftermarket bolts to use an OEM product PERIOD. Thats whay its called OEM. if you are running an OEM head gasket then OEM bolts will suffice. No debating it. </TD></TR></TABLE> OEM = origional equipment from manufacturer. When the MANUFACTURER says to replace the head bolts because of a design change you shouldn't listen to the MANUFACTURER???

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HondaFanatic708 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> OEM = origional equipment from manufacturer. When the MANUFACTURER says to replace the head bolts because of a design change you shouldn't listen to the MANUFACTURER???</TD></TR></TABLE>

It actually says to change the head bolts?....I doubt this

I have never changed head bolts when doing B16 head gaskets...and I've never seen this bulletin either. Maybe I should log onto IN and see this bulletin fo myself

 

it doesnt say that you need to replace the head bolts because of a design change it doesnt say anything about that...i dont see any reason to why you would need to put on ARP head bolts, just stick with the OEM, why modify the original equiptment from manufacturer if the manufacturer isnt saying to do so?

stew

 

If you have the money for the arp head studs buy them. for your situation there not gonna do jack **** in the performance section! OEM=BEST for OEM motors!

 

There is a service bulliten on Hondas Interactive Network that mentions the new design and advises the technician to replace the head bolt with the new bolts... I will probably just use the ones that are in the motor now. I know the ARP wont do anything for me since I'm not running boost or high compression. It would be the proper thing to follow what the service bulliten says, but **** it, they just want more of my money. At an employee discounted price of $7.34 each times 10 I can wait until I build the motor and buy the ARP then. Instead of wasting $75 on Honda bolts now... It's just the fact that the design has changed and so has the head bolts. But like mentioned earlier the difference between a 2 layer and 3 layer is so minimal it wont make a difference. I am just OCD when it comes to my car... Thanks for the help and HAPPY TUNING!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stew18564 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it doesnt say that you need to replace the head bolts because of a design change it doesnt say anything about that...i dont see any reason to why you would need to put on ARP head bolts, just stick with the OEM, why modify the original equiptment from manufacturer if the manufacturer isnt saying to do so?

stew</TD></TR></TABLE> Your work for Honda? Parts/Service? Just wondering. It sound lime Emerika does. Do you Emerika?

 

forget the bolts..change the head gasket to a 2 layers...