When I put my head back on my gsr swap, with the new spoon headgasket and arp bolts, anyone have any special tips on how I can make sure I get a good tight seal ?

I dont want coolant coming out, this is our first time doing it so any tips are greatly appreciated.

 

Pre-torque the studs to about 10ft-lbs before installing the head. Use some copper spray on the gasket. When you install the head, torque it to ARP spec(which is 7ft-lbs, I believe), and then retorque after a couple heat cycles, or a couple hundred miles. It also helps if the head and block are perfectly flat. Check them with a straight edge and feeler gauges, and have them resurfaced/decked if necessary.

 

Hit the nail on the head. It's 70lbs for final torque, excuse inspyrals typo. I pre-torqued the studs in my block to 20ft/lbs but that was just me.

To do this
Step 1: Run the studs down into the block.
Step 2: Place a 1/2" 12pt boxed-end wrench on the stud.
Step 3: Then take 2 of the nuts provided by ARP and spin them together down the top of the stud.
Step 4: Lock the nuts together with a socket on top and the wrench you slipped over the stud in (Step 2)
Step 5: Place the torque wrench set to 10~20 ft/lbs on top to the stud and tighten till it clicks.
Step 6: Seperate the locked nuts and repeat 2-6 for the rest of the studs.

 

Yah, it's 70ft-lbs, my damn 0 key sticks all the time:doh:
Also, if any of your studs doesn't seem to want to go all the way in, run a tap down the hole and then clean it out with some brake parts cleaner and a brush. If you're doing it with the engine still int he car, you might want to skip this step to avoid getting metal shavings everywhere, but it's the only way I know of to get all the studs at the same height.

 

Just a quick question.... ARP states to install the studs into the block "hand tight ONLY". Should this be followed , or should the studs be torqued to 10-20ftlbs before installing the head?? Also, how exactly do you use the copperspray? Do you just spray it on both sides of the gasket or what? Im in the same boat as the guy that started this post and DONT want to have any problems.. thanks again!

 

cool, good luck man, lemme know how yours turns out. :thumbup:

 

hell yeah... hopefully ill have this thing going on monday or tuesday.. i pray to god i dont have problems with this as im trying to get the car ready for daytona... tuner bash is next weekend!!

 

Pre-torquing the studs are just an easy way to make sure they won't spin or back out when the nuts go on with the head. I think what ARP really means to say by "hand tight only" is that you don't need a lot of torque on them in the block. 10 ft-lbs. is next to nothing, and should be fine.

 

Pretty much