[DeTomaso] Head Bolts or Studs?

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/21/07 16 41 57, artstephens at charter.net writes:


>      I have to decide whether I want studs or head bolts to hold my new CHI 
> aluminum heads to my Cleveland block.  My concern with studs was that I 
> thought it made it impossible to get the head off in the car,  is that right?  
> Someone told me that it would be better to use the studs since I have aluminum 
> heads on a cast iron block and because of the different expansion rates of 
> the two metals,  the stud would give more to allow the aluminum to expand?  I'm 
> planning to use ARP fasteners.  One potential advantage to the bolts,  is 
> that the small headed bolts should allow retorquing without removing the valve 
> train.  So what do youse guys think?
> 

I posed this same question to John Christian the other day, when considering 
the issue for my 331 stroker build.   He opined that studs are a pain in the 
butt for several reasons.   Besides the fact that it is difficult if not 
impossible to get the heads off with the engine in place, he also mentioned that if 
the threads in the block are just slightly off, the studs won't line up 
perfectly, and it simply won't be able to get the heads on, or off, period, without 
first removing one or more studs.

So for me, bolts it is.

ARP makes the Good Stuff in two different flavors for the 351C:   Excellent, 
and even better than Excellent.   The price delta is remarkably small between 
them.

Mike


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