gwopsta

im gonna swap my headstuds out for some arp studs..

the plan is to remove valve cover and cams and pull em from the top and then install the arp studs. my question is has anyone done this before?,

i know its obviously better to remove entire head and just replace the head gasket and start fresh with a new oem one, but if i can avoid the extra work and money i will...

my car is a 05 w/ 75k miles....thanks guys

gwopsta

i dont wanna cause any damage to the oem gasket, i wanna leave it in

Prophecy2k4

If you could get away with not removing the head, that would definitely be a plus. The timing chain cover is affixed to the head as well as the block via a ____ ton of bolts, so pulling the head with the engine in the car is practically impossible. Just make sure you set the engine to top dead center and the yellow timing links on the timing chain are aligned with the notches on both cams so you don't eff up timing upon reinstalling everything. Other then that, be sure to use the molylube ARP provides with their headstuds and an assembly lube for the cams/lifter buckets, torque them to ARP's specs, and dis/reassemble in the order stated in Toyota's service manual. I'm sure you will get differing opinions on doing this without pulling the head, but I don't see why it would be a problem other then the off chance that there might be an issue "reusing" an OEM head gasket.

Just out of curiosity, why are you just replacing the head studs? Do you have any reason to believe that the OEM studs aren't providing the necessary torque? Have you ever pulled off a Toyota head?....because the OEM studs are a biatch to get out and if you strip one you're screwed, and will have to drill the head off the stud itself (which will result in you pulling the motor to get the head off).

gwopsta

thanks for the info, the reason im swapping out the headstuds is because im turning up the boost to 15psi, that should make roughly around 330-350whp on my turbo, the motor is stock, but i do hear that even b4 the pistons and rods fail, the headstuds are the first to go, thats what ive heard...there only $150 so i figure why not swap em out

tom0613

iTrader: (2)

something else would break before the anything happens to the head gasket or studs.

Prophecy2k4

I made over 300whp for a year and a half on the stock head studs and never had a problem. When I went to pull the head, the stock studs were damn near impossible to get out, them along with the head gasket were still practically brand new. Although it was fine, I would worry about the stock head gasket long before I'd be concerned with the staying power of the stock studs.

gwopsta

well the only reason im concerned with the stock head gasket is because i dont want to damage it when removing the studs, but maybe i should just leave the studs out. that way its not an issue, my goal right now is to make about 320-350whp on the stock motor