Installing ARP studs without removing head?

[dominicanpanda]

Hey guys so im sort of building my 7mgte that has a good amount of mods already done to it....
i recently pulled the cam covers to see if it arp studs since it already had mods and low and behold it did not
so i got a set of preowned arp studs on the way,the head to me looks rebuilt or cleaned or whatever casue the shits shiny as hell it doesnt have that bronzey oil look to it like most motors i pulled valve covers off .
i was also rummaging through the car and found quotes of a previous owner getting estimates for headbolts and gasket for the car
i also compression tested the vehicle and i have 150 all across
Never overheated on me no milky oil

so is it ok for me to replace all headbolts with arp's without pulling the head
and if so any proper procedure to do this ?
Yes i know i know i could pull the head with a lil more labor but then ill need a new hg and ill want a mhg and then ill have to deck the block and all that good stuff meaning even more money to spend this is a budget build for now


regardless any help and inpput will be greatly appreaciated and im sorry im a n00b

 

[7M4EVR]

To be honest man you will probably do more harm than good. I'm not a mechanic and someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I would just re-torque them if anything. By loosening up all of the head bolts that are currently compressing the head gasket you will obviously disturb any seal it has created and open yourself up to damaging the gasket..just make sure the ones you have in there are all properly torqued down and keep on keeping on. The bolts you have in there should hold up fine if they were torqued right and the block and head were machined properly. Take care of your cooling system (also look at the oiling system on these motors), watch your Air/fuel ratios and keep proper vehicle maintenance up and you should be fine...might as well not fix something that isn't broke. Wait until something happens then fix it....just my opinion

 

[dominicanpanda]

what should I retorque the factory head bolts to I got bigger turbo lex afm/550 fmic 3inch exhaust and safc

 

[hvyman]

Really need to clean and chase the threads before installing them. And that will be pretty hard with the head on.

 

[dominicanpanda]

Really need to clean and chase the threads before installing them. And that will be pretty hard with the head on.

So what you suggest I do ? Trying to get some opinions from people with 7m exp

 

[IndigoMKII]

With all of my mods, I haven't installed my ARP's yet. When the head comes off though, ARP and MHG.

 

[dominicanpanda]

Dude no way indigo!!! Did you retorque oem headbolts ? Or didnt bother ?

 

[GrimJack]

Really need to clean and chase the threads before installing them. And that will be pretty hard with the head on.

This. In order to install ARP studs, you need the head off, so you can clean the holes with a bottoming tap before installation. Otherwise, they won't thread in far enough, and you'll get incorrect torque readings.

Factory head bolts should be torqued to 72 foot pounds. Using the order from the TSRM, crack a bolt back 1/4 turn, then torque to 72, then move to the next bolt in the order.

 

[Dan_Gyoba]

Don't replace them with studs.

If you still have the factory head bolts installed, re-torque them to 72 ft-lbs. This will still be somewhat difficult to do accurately without removing the bolts, but is far less likely to cause a problem than replacing with studs. 72 ft-lbs is what the factory head bolts are supposed to be good to without leaving their elastic zone.

 

[dominicanpanda]

Thanks a lot guys you guys are so helpful so basically do the retorque procedure like grim said one at a time or crack them all 1/4 turn all at the same time then retorque to 72 one at a time ...or just do one bolt crack loose retorque etc...I gotta make sure guys Imma be doing this this weekend when all my parts come in

 

[Maple191]

Yeah you never want to disturb the head when its been bolted down. Cause even if you back them off the HG will never been the same.

 

[GrimJack]

One at a time. Many folks will disagree with touching them at all. Nobody will advise loosening them all, then tightening them - or at least, they had damn well better not, because that's a quick way to kill a gasket for sure.

 

[dominicanpanda]

One at a time. Many folks will disagree with touching them at all. Nobody will advise loosening them all, then tightening them - or at least, they had damn well better not, because that's a quick way to kill a gasket for sure.

haaa ok thanks alot guys ill do each one one at a time just like the tsrm states and i guess ill save my arp studs for if my supra gets a bhg ill already have some parts for it

 

[IndigoMKII]

Dude no way indigo!!! Did you retorque oem headbolts ? Or didnt bother ?

Retorque.

 

[gsxr141]

can you get to the bolts with the cams in?

 

[Maple191]

One at a time. Many folks will disagree with touching them at all. Nobody will advise loosening them all, then tightening them - or at least, they had damn well better not, because that's a quick way to kill a gasket for sure.

They disagree because if you plan to even remove a single head bolt you MUST loosen them all in precice order or risk warping the head, and yes it does happen.
So again DO NOT remove any bolt and swap it for a stud. If you do it, plan to replace a HG real soon.

 

[supraguy@aol]

can you get to the bolts with the cams in?

Yes. Generally, it just requires the cams(engine) to be rotated slightly to get access to all of them.

 

[Poodles]

Retorquing is fine (and should be done anyway to be safe on a new HG install), it's the whole "I have a leaking gasket, should I retorque?" question that's a huge NO. Once the gasket moves out of place (this is why they leak/blow) nothing is going to make them seal.

Definite 100% no on putting studs in without pulling the head.