Good point.

What did you torque them to?

Seems like there is mixed reviews on the reuse of the gaskets, I initially thought that MLS gaskets could be reused and the composite ones couldn't. If you take a look at Cometic gaskets they state that you can reuse MLS gaskets as long as the steel is still in good shape. I think this may be the same case with GM MLS gaskets. Composite gaskets definitely can't be reused as they will most likely fall apart upon removal anyways and they definitely compress upon installation to a point of no return.

 

I would just loosen everything up and run through the torque sequence again, once you get the new stud in.... that's just me. I know for a fact I reused my MLS (mine were cometic though) head gaskets twice. Just pulled the head off, put some copper spray on it and slapped it back on and I never had a problem with my 12:1 engine with a healthy shot of nitrous.

I wouldn't fret much about the bad stud. That happens in everything. I have bought some of the best parts money can buy and they have little imperfections. That's just part of it. The eBay studs I keep seeing good things on. There are guys on YellowBullet running low 5s in the eighth with them. That's plenty enough for me. I will probably pick up the KMJ studs when I start putting together my turbo engine.

 

I torqued mine 20/60/75 this is with light engine oil on both the stud and nuts.

 

Thanks for the input. I'll see when it comes what I decide to do, not sure if to just put it in or do what you're suggesting. I will go over all of them in sequence after done either way to make sure they are all in spec.

I'm pretty confident GM MLS gaskets are reusable.

Oh ok, mine were torqued to around the same values. Alper told me to only torque them to 60lbs and in two steps to not overstress the bolts but others running them have torqued them up to the 80lb ARP torque value and had no issues. I used ARP lube on mine.

 

Your final torque rating is going to be off.
Good.

Did you "pre-stretch" the bolts?

Did you retighten the stud after 2 passes?

 

Not sure what you mean by "pre-stretch" the bolts?

I went over them a couple more passes with the final torque setting to make sure they were all still at the final torque spec.

 

Tighten them down in the order listed ^^^... Use the steps, for yours I guess it would be 30/60 for the large then the one step 25 for the small, or whatever is recommended.

Tighten them down, back them off... Retighten them... Back them off... Retighten them... Back the nut off and with an allen make sure all the studs are still bottomed out... Retighten them... Wait 30 minutes then make one final pass as the final torque setting.

This is how ARP bolts are, I would only assume those studs are the same.

 

That is possible, I did a lot of reading and research on this topic, it seems as though guys are torqueing heads studs down anywhere from 60 to 80 and they all work out fine. In the end I went with what I thought was best. In all the years working with small blocks and torqueing them to 65 and never having HG problems, 75 here should be plenty. Many builders will actually say that the surface of the block and heads offen times play and greater role than the head gasket or what the studs are torqued too.

 

Should have clarified, I was talking more because of the choice with the engine oil VS ARP (moly) type lube.

I torqued mine to 75 FWIW and 25 on the smalls.

 

No I did not do that, nor do I see that in the ARP instructions. I think that is the stretch method, I used the regular old torque wrench method. ARP says there are 3 methods to torquing the studs; stretch, torque angle, and regular old torque wrench. I used the third on these particular studs.

 

I used a torque wrench as well.. The pret stretch is a step while using the torque wrench.

There are a couple difference reasons why you have to do this.

I have heard two difference people not take these steps and some of the nuts/studs were so loose they could turn them by hand and had leaks withing 48 hours.

 

I'm assuming you did this with ARP studs? Maybe this is something I should do once the new stud comes in. I can torque it down, back them all off and then torque them all down again following the sequence. Do you keep doing it in steps every time?

 

I've heard from a few sources, that as long as the head gaskets don't see a heat cycle/run-time, they're good to re-use.

 

Whichever way you end up going, good luck with the build, I hope all works out for you.

Keep us posted!

 

Assumption correct.

I highly recommend it, and make sure to retighten the stud with an allen... Many of mine were loose after this process.

Yes, all but the last pass. I did 2 cycles of tightening and backing off then again... After the second pass I backed the nuts off enough to make sure the stud was seated fully, if you don't back the nut off enough when you tighten the stud down the nut will hit the head and will make you think the stud is seated when it isn't.. After this tighten them for the 3rd time.. Let them sit for a minimum 30 minutes.. Mine sat for about an hour, then WITHOUT loosening anything, put the torque back on the last value (75 for lrg or whatever you used and 25 for sml) and make one pass. You aren't trying to tighten them anymore, the first click you hear stop.

 

Didn't work for him. Ever seen them? crude as hell with no engineering behind them, just copy and sell like most of their stuff. Oh, if you have some technical issues and need to speak? NO way, there's no tech line.

 

Thanks! Here's my build thread, feel free to stop by and drop some knowledge whenever you can. I'm new to these motors and never done a swap before so this is all new territory for me.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/carburete...-ls1-swap.html

Ok thanks for the info. I'm not sure if these studs are supposed to go through a similar process. I'll contact Alper and see what he has to say regarding these specific studs, if they were ARPs I'd definitely be doing this.

 

If it ever does happen, Timesert makes a nice kit that works great.
http://www.timesert.com/html/gm.html

 

Noted, thanks for the link.

 

No problem, good luck...

I'm FINALLY sitting here looking at a 370 LONG block... Just because I can I bolted the headers up, spark plugs in, intake on, etc... I'll have to remove some stuff to put it in... But I'm so close I can taste it!