I am building a 396, and have a question about head studs. I have a set of arp head bolts, which dont have many miles on them, so I was thinking about just reusing them to save money. All I want to know is, will I be able to take the heads off in the car with head studs? If I cant, then I will just want head bolts. Down the road I might want to get a set of afr's. I will be spraying down the road, and want to push over 5 to the wheels. Thanks.

 

I am 99% sure that they won't clear....

 

Yeah they will not come off in the car with the head studs still in the block. Take the studs out and you get em.

 

I have ARP head studs on my 396 with the AFR heads. The new studs have hex holes on top for you to pull the head studs with an allen wrench off the motor when you want to pull the heads. It's just as simple as pulling head bolts, but you do need to pull the studs off. The only part that is more difficult is to make sure you put good sealant on all the threads and between the washer of the studs if not you will get coolant seepage from the coolant jacket below the studs.

 

You will have to drop the motor a bit to get the heads off w/ studs. I went w/ ARP bolts throughout my motor.

 

Like they said, you can always pull the studs.

Rich Krause

 

For some reason I thought it would be a PITA to get the studs out of the block with the heads on. But if its not, I might asw well jsut go with the studs. What do you all think? Thanks.

 

It will not be a PITA if you get the studs that have the hex holes, since you can easily remove the studs this way with the heads on the car.