Well, I was gonna do the 1 inch long arp bolts, stainless steel with the 5/16" head so I can get a boxed end wrench on them with my pacesetter longtubes, but someone mentioned the stage 8's.

So, which one is better? Put a better way, what is the pros and cons of each? Who has experience with what, and what would they do if they could do it all over again? The arps are 36 bucks, and I have no clue what the stage 8 locking ones are.

 

I have the stage 8 and love them , My ARP's are in my tool box

 

hm. Well, did you get the 8911-A ones? They are the 3/8" by 1 inch. 12 of them are 49.99. The Arps are only 29.99 for the same dementions.

 

I used stainless steel socket head cap screws with the black oxide washer tha fits directly under the head, checked them once a day after, and then once a week after that, and I never had one issue with a leak or anything for 25,000 miles before I tore the car down! I also got ones that were a little longer, I think 1 1/4 or 1 1/2, I can go look if you like, but since the flanges were so thick on the headers, I figured that as long as it did not bottom out, everything was A OK!

 

I used the 1 inch ARP bolts. They are super strong and I only retightened them once after the first few drives. Great quality, I reccomend them.

 

hmm, so the arp ones are good? they are 20 bucks cheaper than those locking ones too. I used the ones that came with my rksport ones, and they worked great. They were only 3/4" long though.. The arp ones I would get would be one inch long, with the smaller head to get the box end of the wrench in there. Damnit, I hate desicions like this!

 

Stage 8's suck, they must be made out of really soft metal because they'll round really easy on the head and on the allen wrench center. They're junk and sitting in my tool box right now.

 

Interesting! So, did you go with the ARP ones that I am inquiring about after you rounded them?

 

My stage 8's let the bolts back out 1/16th of a turn, and that was enough for 7 out of the 8 primarys to leak. Now I have breslins in with no complaints.

 

what is breslins? you don't like those either?? lol the arp's are lookin better and better by the post!

 

No i just went to the local autoparts store and bought some Mr. Gasket brand header bolts they work fine and are just a few dollars.

 

Any old bolt will work fine if you have the fortitude to retorque a few times. They'll work well.

For the "torque once" bolts I'd recommend Breslins. Expensive but good for the lazy (like me).

 

Do a search the Breslins are a split header bolt with an allen screw on the inside. You tighten up the header bolt then tighten the screw inside the bolt, this spreads the bolt and locks it in place. I'm sure they work great but i could only imagine what it would be like if you rounded out the center allen screw or it was ceased in there. That Bolt would never come out.

 

holly crap, that would suck if they got stuck in there. I do know about them now. But, I can retorque a few times, it won't hurt me, I did it forever with the rksports! The pacesetters give you bolts, but I want the smaller head so I can get a boxed end wrench on them and not round them off!

 

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...tegoryId=13921

Those are what i have and i believe their cheaper at autozone/o'reilys.