I was just curious if anyone has tried using ARP studs instead of the throw away head bolts in the rover engine. I know there is debate over why they pop gaskets as they do, ie the alum block and heads do a substantial amount of streching when they heat up and cool down and the original material just didnt do the job. I remember blowing head gaskets of all types, oe, copper and aftermarket, in a few supercharged motors i built back in the day. Once i went with arp studs i had no issues even with cheap headgaskets, no matter how much boost i threw at at. Any thoughts???

 

Most h/g jobs for these trucks seem to be from old coolant getting corrosive and eating them to nothing. Replacing the coolant every 2 years/30k miles is your best bet.

 

What he said.

 

I can agree with that, but mine went at 37k and 2.5 yr old. When and if they go again, even after the meticulous maintenance i serve up for my truck, has anyone pondered the idea of using studs instead of throw away torque to yeild head bolts?

 

The one draw back with using studs in a daily driver is clearance. With studs you need extra clearance to lift the heads over the studs and with our Disco, there's barely enough room to easliy remove the head bolts. Studs do have a lot more advantage over bolts, the clamping force is spread more evenly.

 

i was thinking about that. most of studs will coem allen keyed now and you could just tread them in like a regular bolt, then throw the nut on the stud.

 

If that's so, then I guess it's possible.

 

I agree with Candiman. I did a valve job on my 2000 LR Disco II and rounded out the hex on two head bolts on the left side. I ground down the hex of the bolts. Removing the head was a problem. It was hitting the power brake booster since I had to lift the head over the bolt. I had to lift the head off the engine block enough to get a needle nose pliers between the head and the engine block to unscrew the stud enough so that it would stick beyond the heads so I could grab the shaft with a vise grip and unscrew it. Should have used a stripped bolt remover. I wound up putting micro cracks on my left head.
Ed

 

2 bolts? Were you using a 12 pnt. socket or something? Those bolts are pretty hard. How did that put cracks in your head?

 

jkid
I was using a 6 point socket. The ones close to the firewall on the driver side gave me the problem. Got the small cracks by grinding down the hex heads with a dremel and coming in contact with the head. Looking at the heads shows where the grinding stone hit the head and went 2 - 3 mm below the surface. However, when the engine shop pressure tested the head (before the did the valve job) they found two leaks exactly where the dremel stone came in contact with the head. Wound up getting a new head for that side. Should've used a stripped bolt remover. Could have save myself $175 (cost of the head less the extractor).
Ed