Quote: Use ARP or stock head bolts. Use head studs and you will blow head gaskets.
I'd like to hear some logic behind that one. It flies in the face of common top engine builders best practices throughout the country.
The studs at full 1/2" dia. do not stretch enough at 100ft. lbs. of torque. The stock head bolts as well as the ARP head bolts have the dia. reduced to 7/16" from about 1/4" below the head to just above where the threads start, which allows for more stretch at 100ft.lbs. Main studs work great because there is nothing between the two surfaces being clamped, unlike between the block and the head. More stretch on a head bolt allows more load to stay on when the gasket further compresses form heat cycling. If you try torqueing more than 100 ft. lbs., to, say, 135 ft. lbs., which would further stretch the stud, you will more than likely pull the threads out of the block.
I had studs on a 360 years ago and it would blow head gaskets at 10.75 to CR. So one day I happened to notice how the dia. on the bolts was not full size, so I turned the ARP studs to 7/16" between the threads and never blew another head gasket on that eng. and I ran it for a couple more years until it broke the stock cast 360 crank into 3 pieces.
