Hi,

Planning my first rebuild.

Head bolts or head studs? What's the difference?

Is one stronger or weaker?

Thank-you!

Studs will tend to have more clamping force, but they are more expensive.

_________________
Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Unless you're going for a high compression ratio or planning on boost or nitrous then head bolts will be fine. The stock ones in good shape are fine too.

_________________
Joshua

Studs would be better for a performance build, but if you ever have to take the cylinder head off while its still in the car, you have to lift it off over the studs to get it off, and then put it back on.

_________________
There's no such thing as too much cam....only not enough engine!

No reason not to just clean up the stock bolts .....unless you are boosting it or plan on huge cylinder pressures.

_________________
Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Boy, been there done that...it ain't fun...

Studs for hi-performance/hi-compression/boost... and one other reason...if for some reason you shave a lot out of the head and/or deck...the bolts may bottom out and not tighten down all the way, then studs would be mandatory for that combo (Done that too...)

-D.Idiot

Thanks everyone for your replies, at the moment I'm still gathering info, working my budget and so on. Thinking I will go the studs as in the future I do plan on boost or nitrous at some stage. The rest of the motor will be built with this in mind, looking to be a fun and expensive project.

I take the studs out before installing or removing the head.

The allignment dowels do a good job of lining things up. The ARP studs have an allen key cut into the top, so they are a snap to install after setting the head.

If your planning to do an adder later, consider getting them up front. It is easier to get accurate clamping torque with the studs as well. Oil the fasteners prior to torquing them down whichever way you decide to go. Somehow I ended up with a quart of 40 wt in my shop. I use it for these types of fasteners, as it doesn't belong in the crankcase of any engine I run.

CJ

_________________
Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

not to hijack the thread, but how much pressure are we talking about when it's best to switch to studs? is it something that only comes up when running boost or bottle? or is it something a N/A engine might run into? 10:1? 11:1? 12:1? 13:1? thought I'd ask, I suppose cam choice would matter as well.

_________________
-Christopher

"Gray Ghost"-1970 Dart.
"Frederick II"-1994 Geo Metro.

Just thought of one other question, when putting the studs on the motor do I torque them to the head bolt setting as described in the manual or would they keep going to far through the block in which case would I just do the stud into the block as far as the thread goes. So that if you looked at it from a side on view you would see the thread-less part of the stud sticking out of the block.

Thanks again!

With any rebuild, you would chase the threads with a tap before using bolts or studs. Then you would screw the studs in by hand as far as they will go to ensure maximum thread engagement, but hand tighten only. For aluminum blocks, anti-seize is used on the threaded end that goes into the block, and on cast iron blocks, a light coating of silicon sealer is helpful if the bolt holes are exposed to the water jackets. For blind holes, its just a matter of preference whether you use any type of thread sealer or not.

_________________
There's no such thing as too much cam....only not enough engine!

I would not waste money on studs. I have run several motors in the 11:1 range with bolts, and reused the bolts many times. Tilley had bolts in his 360 HP 12:1 NA motor, but studs in his 630 HP turbo motor.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Lou, what do you think of running studs or bolts when the head and block has been milled a heavy amount??

_________________
Michael Glass. Mopar stuff and some rusty Mopar stuff!
1965 Dodge Dart with 66 Valiant front clip. Other stuff...

Depends on the milling numbers and performance level.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Non boosted probably around 11:1 compression..I hope
starting new job soon starting to price things

_________________
Michael Glass. Mopar stuff and some rusty Mopar stuff!
1965 Dodge Dart with 66 Valiant front clip. Other stuff...