Screw-in studs

After a huge list of misc. problems, and also after already taking my heads to the machine shop for repair of two broken studs, a new problem arises. My car is in the shop getting A/C charged, and the mechanic was going to adjust my valves again for me while it was in, b/c they wouldn't stay adjusted. He called today and said the pressed-in studs were backing out. I find this out after just re-installing the heads a week ago.
:damnit:
So, in order to get screw-in studs (which is what I need, right?), all I need to do is tap the heads and screw them in? Can I do this at home instead of pulling the heads and going through all that again?

BTW, just out of curiousity, I asked the mechanic how much it would cost for him to pull the heads and take them to the machine shop. After he looked over everything, he called me back and quoted $490 labor. Plus gaskets, and the actual head-work ($150).
 
  • Sponsors (?)


That's something that I would not attempt to do myself (drilling/tapping for studs) and I have a drill press, etc. Angle and straightness of the stud is important. Pull the dang heads yurself an' get 'er done.
 
I know it was my thread, but it was a different question...and at the time, I wasn't stuck in a position where I HAD to get screw-in studs. The previous question concerned the damage caused by rocker arm interference. I've since replaced the rocker arms. The problem now is that the studs are pulling out.
 
Check with local head shops and stay away from the 289 hipo heads they usually run more $$$. I found 289-302 heads that were reworked with the screw in studs for about 380.00 a pair at a local shop in Phoenix. Also found some 351c heads that had been turn into clevors and got them for 225.00, but the 289-302 manifold would not work with them, they require a boss or clevor manifold.
 
streetstang67 said:
I know it was my thread, but it was a different question...and at the time, I wasn't stuck in a position where I HAD to get screw-in studs. The previous question concerned the damage caused by rocker arm interference. I've since replaced the rocker arms. The problem now is that the studs are pulling out.
Yea it was a different question, but you also asked the question about the studs being able to handle the cam. And I answered that question then. :D Comp Cams also recommends against using an Extreme Energy grind with pressed in studs. They've been well known for the thirty+ years they've been around that the tend to pull out of the heads with high performance cams. Yea this stuff gets expensive, but if you want to play, you've got to pay. Now, you've wasted another set of gaskets and still have to send the heads back to the machine shop to get new studs installed. Unless you want to save the few dollars the shop's gonna charge you and try to intall them yourself, while they're on the engine. Doing this is gonna end up costing you another motor, when you get metal filings in the crankcase, & you start breaking rockers and springs from studs that aren't perpendicular to the head. There's probably a few more likely scenarios that I haven't thought of ( it's late and past my bedtime :sleep: ) that can happen from doing machinework on an assembled engine.
 
I really don't want to seem like an a-hole here, but D. Hearne is right. I monitor this site quite frequently (more than I'm sure my boss would appreciate). You constantly ask for advice, which is fine, but you never seem to follow the advice that the experienced members on this site offer. This is not a cheap hobby, and if all you're ever concerned about is the bargain basement way of doing things, then you will be able to congratulate yourself in the end for making the project twice as expensive as it should be when you have to re-do everything multiple times, which is, quite frankly, the subject of this post based on the advice you've already been given.

I am sincere when I tell you that the purpose of this post is not to flame you but to give solid advice. You want more performance than what you currently have; by far, the general consensus on your previous thread was to save your money for some AFR heads or the like; you chose to disregard that advice, even though it was from people who know a h*** of a lot more than you do (and more than I do, I might add) about this subject. You would have been better off to have followed the advice given.

I'm truly sorry if this seems like a personal attack, because I assure you that's not the point. The point is that this is not a cheap hobby, and if you really want to do your car right the first time, you should follow the advice given or don't ask for the advice in the first place if you think that you know better. With that being said, I definitely wish you the best of luck with your ride, as it appears to be a sweet foundation for the mods you are interested in, but you really need to suck up the costs of what you want to do and do it right the first time, or be patient and hold off until you have the funds to do things right rather than wasting money.
 
streetstang67 said:
So, in order to get screw-in studs (which is what I need, right?), all I need to do is tap the heads and screw them in? Can I do this at home instead of pulling the heads and going through all that again?

BTW, just out of curiousity, I asked the mechanic how much it would cost for him to pull the heads and take them to the machine shop. After he looked over everything, he called me back and quoted $490 labor. Plus gaskets, and the actual head-work ($150).

Here, it costs $100 to machine heads for screwed in studs. I believe that the stud bosses must be machined also, to accomodate the thickness of the nut on the screw-in studs and to get them perfectly flat since they are castings. Not a job for the cordless craftsman. :(