Studly advice

[IDIBRONCO]

I'm planning to stud my 6.9 soon. I will be pulling it out to also install a Typ4 cam and fix my oil cooler leak. I figure it will be a good time to reseal the rest of the engine since I'll just about have all of the gaskets broken loose anyway. I'm looking for some advice on installing the studs since I know next to nothing about doing it. also, any suggestions on where to buy olives online. From Ford or International doesn't really work for me since I'm 80 miles or so from the closest dealership. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[sle2115]

Contact Russ (typ4) or Mel (Agnem) and some might know others who have access to the olives. As for the studs, make sure to clean out the bolt holes before using the studs, get a bottom tap and be gentle when it bottoms (some have broken the tap off, best to turn it in a turn, back it out, turn it in, back it out and blow out what it breaks loose with compressed air). If you are doing it in truck, you will need to affix rubber bands to the studs to hold them in the head as it is lowered down on the engine as the heads wont clear body parts with the studs installed. Most wrap a rubber band around the threads that the nuts go on and drop the studs in the bolt holes, this keeps them from falling right through, but you can also loosely start the nuts on them to hold them in the head. I've done it both ways. Anyway, hope that gets you started.

 

[gatorman21218]

Yes you need to tap the hole. Its funny the cheapest no name tap fit the best. the higher grade ones felt like they wanted to cut the threads. Just grind the taper off a normal tap and you have a bottom tap. If you buy arp studs it comes with instructions, but basically you tap the hole, coat the 1/2-13NC side with engine oil and install the stud tight and then back it off a bit (cant remember how much). then install the head, and lubricate the top face of the washer and the stud threads with the supplied lube. then torque following the proper sequence.

 

[Knuckledragger]

You can use a good bottom tap, about $10-20 from McMaster-Carr or other industrial or tool supply. Not sure why you would oil the threads in the block since the studs aren't going anywhere, but it won't hurt. The lube for the top threads is moly disulfide so if you have any laying around, you don't have to buy it special.

The most important part is following the torque sequence to keep even pressure on the clamping surfaces. Even though the heads weigh 95 lbs, they are filled with cavities (like Swiss cheese) and can be warped pretty easily if you are determined. Don't overtorque, it doesn't exert any more clamping effort, only fatigues the studs.

 

[OLDBULL8]

He's going to do a 6.9 engine and the studs are 7/16"-14 NC, NOT 1/2"-13 NC.

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

clean out the threads in the block, install studs finger tight, no lube required on those threads. set heads on, get the arp thread lube, nothing else will get you the same accurate torque results. coat the washer and the threads at the top of the studs and put the nuts on. follow the torque sequence. once i got the final sequence done i just kept going around until my torque wrenched beeped without the nut moving anymore.

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

torque spec....http://arpdiesel.com/pages/technical_torque_us.shtml

 

[icanfixall]

I feel the threads in the block should have at least some anti sieze applied to them. Even though they don't actually turn once you start tightening the nuts.. If they stick in the block because they are dry and over time rust in ther you may end up with removel issues. The threads are counter bored down about 1 inch below the top of the deck so they wont pull threads up and ruin the surface torque. The thread ingagement in the block is 1 1/2 inch of thread. The point of lube on all the friction turning surfaces is to reduce the friction. Thats including the head under the washer. Both sides of the washer and under the nut plus the fine threads on top of the stud. Now of course you can see applying lube to the stud sparingly and both sides of the wahser will do nicey. Nothing is actually needed applied to the nut or the head. Tap cutting oil or some aerokroil will make the thread cleaning easy. Its the washing out of the holes thats tuff is the engine can't be turned on its side on a stand. As for grinding the end off a starting tap to make a bottoming tap.. sure can but.. Your better off buying an actual bottoming tap. When I make a tap into something else. and I go both ways too. I use a thin cutoff wheel on my hand grinder and lots of stopping to cool in water. Never allow the steel to turn blue. It it truns blue the temper is lost and it will break off in the threads. A bottoming tap can be ground into any starter type tap too. Thats what I meant by going both ways.

 

[gatorman21218]

So just out of curiousity, why do we need to clean the holes so well if studs are going in? I assume you need to clean them if bolts are going in to get the proper torque reading.

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

yes. my studs were a royal witch to thread all the way into the block.

 

[icanfixall]

Cleaning the threads in the bolt and using some type of lube when studs are used is a cautionary thing. Lets say you didn't use and lube or oil. Now you do know the head bolt holes at the edge of the head near the exhaust ports has part of the block cut away for a machine purchase. So now those studs are exposed to the air or salt or road grime. So that gets soaked down into the threads and they freeze up. Now try to remove them. Not happening or at least its going to take some work. If the block was out and set up on a mill thos frozen studs can be cut just above the deck surface. then machined out. but that plenty of tuff work right there. Remember the studs are harder than the stock head bolts and made from a better material. So please clean out the block head bolt holes with a bottoming tap. Using all the threads is far better than using some of the threads isn't it..

 

[antiqueford]

Try threading in the studs finger tight without chasing the threads first and I bet it'll go about half a turn.

I tend to use moly lube on the block side of the studs too, just cuz there's usually plenty of it in the little packet ARP includes.

Torquing, as said above, correct sequence is everything. I usually start at 30 and work my way up to spec, and repeat the pattern several times at the torque spec, not trying to turn the nuts, just applying reeeeaaaaaly slow pressure until the torque wrench clicks. Yes your arms will be burning by the time you're done!

 

[Wicked97]

Always bottom the studs then back them off a turn.
You want a little space for the stud to turn if it wants to.
Also after your done torquing them to your first value go back to the first stud and loosen it then retorque.
In 20 years of engine building i have broken 3 studs and all three were finger tight before torquing. On my 4.6 it does make a difference on how well the gasket holds up. That motor is 10.2:1 static cr with 18 lbs of boost and if everything isn't perfect its a mess.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Thanks everyone. I've been busy since posting and haven't gotten back until today. I'm pulling the engine out for a couple of reasons. one so I can fix some oil leaks at the same time. Two I slowly started getting compression into the cooling system on the passenger's side and I need to find out why. I know it's a lot easier to pull the heads on a stand. I can only see two reasons for number two. Head or head gasket. I'm hoping to get lucky and have it be just a gasket. The engine was remaned by the shop I used to work for in the late 90's. We always reused the old head bolts. I'm hoping the bolts just got fatigued since they could have 1,000,000 miles on them. I'm hoping to install a turbo in the future so I decided to go with studs instead of new bolts.

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

Also after your done torquing them to your first value go back to the first stud and loosen it then retorque.

you do not need to do that. then only reason one would do that is if they want to give their arms a work out.