Head Bolts or Studs?
 

Which is better and why? I tried doing a search but it netted me nothing.

My builder believes only in bolts. Their reasoning is they have allegedly found studs to be responsible for engine centerline shift. They state they have not found any evidence a stud will fasten a cylinder head to an iron block any better than a stud. I trusted their opinion and that is what I'm running in my engine shifting at 7100rpm.

Say again?

use bolts, studs will tend to leak antifreeze

:fluffy:

Studs are buggers to work around in the stock compartment too....lol

I've never had a problem sealing with the ARP bolts.

But with allot of pressure studs may help, but they need to be into consideration throughout the machining process of the block, they DO distort the bore differently than bolts.

I'm no expert, but I did a bit of reading on the subject, and it seems a lot of people had trouble with head studs sealing, and ended up leaking coolant. I got ARP bolts and their thread sealer to make sure I don't have that problem.

+1 on the head bolts. Unles you are running more than a 200shot of N20 or 20+PSI, the head bolts will be fine.
If you are going to go with studs, make sure that they use studs to bolt the torqe plate to the block when it is honed.

Why would a stud leak and a bolt not leak?

not just that, its damn tough to pull heads in the car with studs. bolts make it a lot easier.

only advantage i really see is being able to re-use studs.

That is something I never figured out, but plenty of people seem to have run into that problem.

Some people need to explain this to me. In the LS world studs are king. I know the blocks are aluminum... Is that the simple fact that makes people think bolts are better for LT1s?

You can re-use ARP bolts

I'm using studs and haven't had any problems whatsoever. Even in The Monte.

I like the fact that you're making up the torque in the fine threads in the nut rather than the course threads in the cast iron block.

Look into any of the high performance fastener books by Carrol Smith. Get this book, study it and you'll have a whole new outlook on fasteners and plumbing.

I wouldn’t use the ARP thread sealant, there have been a few bad stories about it. I use something way goopier:
http://www.permatex.com/images/Displ...otos/80063.jpg