If I was bored and decided I wanted to put studs in place of the head bolts, could i do it one by one without having to clean out the bolt holes or worry about coolant getting in? If I can swap out the bolts to studs now, then when i do the head swap, it will be cake. Just seeing if anyone's done it or thinks it could work.

 

I'm not sure, but I think people have done that. I would call up ARP and find out if there is a different type of procedure doing it that way.

I think the only issue would be what torque spec to go with when the head gasket is already fully compressed.

My recomendation, get the studs, and when your ready to swap the heads, do just as you say, remove one head bolt at a time and then replace it with a stud, just don't put the bolt on it. That way you won't have to clean out the bolt holes and it eliminates the question of torque specs.

 

well when i do the swap, id get new gaskets. I was just curious if it was possible to just do it one weekend for the hell of it before i get the heads.

 

hmmm...I'm about to do a head and cam swap and am replacing my head bolts with studs. If I could just replace each bolt one at a time with the studs, then take the head off and clean the surfaces, this would save ALOT of time cleaning out the bolt holes. I'd like to hear some expert opinions too!

 

to the top....

 

This might get more traffic in Internal Engine.

 

Thanks John