Ok I'm about to start putting my heads back on and already have read up on this. Tap the holes in the block to clean threads, ect. But I also read that the studs should be tourqued down 5 times? So am I supposed to go through the entire sequence 5 times? Nowhere in the instructions that came with the studs say to do this, it just says tourque in 3 equal steps to 80ft pounds? But I am also expecting 20 psi of boost so can I savely squeeze say 85 foot pounds out of it?
6.9 Head stud installation
- Thread starter S-west
- Start date
icanfixall
Official GMM hand model
You can get more than 85 lbs on the studs safely. Now they are the ARP studs I hope. As for the 5 times torquing.. This is sometimes confusing. What your doing is torquing down the stud, nut and washer 5 times to break down the natural friction between the moving threaded and flat surfaces. Nothing more. Its easy to tighten up the studs and loosen them 5 times IF.. We had a jig fixture. But non of us have one. I tried making one using some schedule 40 pipe on my spare block but crushed the pipe. Lucky for me I had a spare head and new used once head gasket. So I installed that as if I was building an engine. Torqued each stud 5 times and loosened them 5 times. Quick math tell you I torqued 170 studs to 110 lbs on my 7.3 engine. My tiny arms and weakling body was sore for months after that experience. Then I felt the friction was normalized on all the thread and sliding surfaces so I installed on my built block and did the torque sequence the 4 required times in the series designed. Each torque was reached and I made the wrench click 3 times before I moved on to the next stud in the sequence. The final "Z" torque sequence was done with 3 clicks. I felt very good that all the studs were tightened the same. One note I must make here. Use the ARP Molly lube. Somehow I damaged 6 studs and the nuts gaulded to the stud. I drove to ARP because its only about 70 miles from my home and showed the studs to 3 of their top engineers. They gave me more than I wanted to replace the messed up ones and helped me with several questions. They told me if I used their lube the toque would be 110 lbs but. If I used 30 wt oil on the threads the torque would need to be 130 lbs on the studs to reach the 110 lbs using their lube. Well I already had bought their lube and they gave me more of it. Anyplace there is friction the lube needs to be applied. The special hardened ground flat washers have to have lube on both sides because you can't predict if the washer will spin on the block or the nut with spin on the washer or both. You don't need to dip the stud in the lube. Just brush it on the threads and the washers. I like wearing rubber gloves and smooth the threads with my fingers to wipe off the excess lube. Do it once and do it right. You wont be doing it again. One more thing. A torque wrench wont hold the calibration from year to year. Re-calibration must be done yearly to be sure its correct. If you have a test setup what you can do it test you wrench and simply increase the setting or decrease the setting to achieve the torque you want. Say you wrench is off 3 lbs and you want 50. Just set it to 53 and get it done.. Simple fix.
Yes they are arp, I am going to try and borrow a friends brand new snap on tourque wrench. And just to clear this up, I will have to go through the whole sequence five times? That way I don't warp the heads at all. I don't have a spare engine at all so this is going to suck in the truck, but you got to do what you got to do. Also on a few of the back head bolts I could barely get in there with a regular ratchet when taking them off, I think I even had to use a 3/8 drive on one and it was rubbing the firewall. Is this always that tight or is something wrong there. My radiator support mounts are pretty well shot and the front clip sags, but the cab mounts seem fine.
could try unbolting the trans mount and jacking the back of it up, rocking engine forward
icanfixall
Official GMM hand model
Ok, You did not tell us this is an in frame head removal and install stud job. Makes much more work doing it this way but thats what you feel is the way so lets try some help. Russ aka typ4 installed a set of ARP studs and did not torque them 5 times. Now after over 100,000 miles of heavy towing and driving he has no issues with head gasket leaks or heating issues because of that. I felt what ARP told me was correct but others feel its not. What to do.. I try to give advise based on what worked and for what didn't work. Thats the best I can offer. I do clearly explain why something works or it does not work. Torquing 5 times was advise given by those that make the studs. Who knows better than them. The engineers behind whats on the shelf. Now don't call ARP and ask the person doing the phone calls taking an order to know what you need to know. Ask the engineers. Can you install the studs with the simple torque sequence we normally use. sure can. Want better insurance then do it 5 times to break down the friction between the stud and nut threads and the washer. Your not stretching the stud by using it over and over either. they are designed to stretch but come back and be used over and over again. I think mine are the 220,000 psi studs. The new factory bolts are the 154,000 psi bolts. I had some tested to failure just t know what they break at. I helped design the first sets of the DPS studs that had the 270,000 psi breaking strength and were H13 material. I ran that set for 5200 miles when a freeze plug let go in my newly built engine ruining it. When you loose all the coolant the sender has nothing touching it to tell the gauge what the temps are. I only knew I had problems when the engine rattled because the oil temp was passing 330 degrees on the gauge. then it slowed and stopped running. Engine froze up from pistons swelling up and sticking to the bores. Instant shot to hell new engine too...
About the rear studs access try lifting the cab off the mounts by a 4x4 block or removing the motor mounts to drop the engine down some. Watch the fan and the fan shroud contact too. To lift the cab I think you have to loosen or remove the radiator core support bolts along with the cab bolts. then stick a 4x4 block of wood in there to keep it safe while working in the tight areas.
About the rear studs access try lifting the cab off the mounts by a 4x4 block or removing the motor mounts to drop the engine down some. Watch the fan and the fan shroud contact too. To lift the cab I think you have to loosen or remove the radiator core support bolts along with the cab bolts. then stick a 4x4 block of wood in there to keep it safe while working in the tight areas.
It's gonna be nothing but a ***** doing that with the engine in frame, specially the rear bolts. Nothing wrong with the cab firewall that close, that's why it's a bitc.
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