Head studs-one at a time?

[jtk27]

Alright I have read some old threads about doing head studs this way. I've read about the guys who like it and the guys who say it's cutting corners and half azzing it. My question is if you do it this way have you hurt anything? If your gaskets fail later was it caused in any way shape or form by the install? If they fail, would they have failed anyway with the stock bolts? If they fail are you just out your time of doing the install and have to do it the "right" way anyway but you already have the studs? I'm looking for a real reason not to do them this way since my head gaskets are good and don't really want to spend 2 or 3k when this is an option. Please advise but give me something better than it's half azzing it and it's not the "right" way.

[SickStroke6.0]

Don't waste your time man. Honestly. Leave the stock bolts on yours till the gaskets blow, then tear her down. Machine the heads for flatness, put new gaskets on, and ARP's with an EGR delete of your choice.

[scparrish]

60% of 6.0s will show no symptoms of blown head gaskets when in fact they have blown head gaskets so if your going to do studs do it right. Me for instance am just getting studs put in the heads were trashed with deep rust pitting from coolant/water getting in between the gaskets and heads. My two cents do it right when you get the chance

[jtk27]

Originally Posted by SickStroke6.0

Don't waste your time man. Honestly. Leave the stock bolts on yours till the gaskets blow, then tear her down. Machine the heads for flatness, put new gaskets on, and ARP's with an EGR delete of your choice.

I didn't want to put a tuner on it till it had studs but don't have time or money to do it "right". The one at a time method has to be better than stock doesn't it?

[Texas~KR]

I don't think people here will "honestly" answer that question because they've never tried it. So even if they did give their opinion, you probably wouldn't want to trust it unless they had actual experience doing it. I would look for the ones who have done it that way and see what they think and what kind of power they're running through it.

[Galaxie]

I did mine with the heads off. I have heard about people doing it one at a time, I have never done it. I have replaced stock head bolts on a 428 Ford FE with ARP head boltls one at a time and it worked. Totaly different though.

[PGreenSVT]

Originally Posted by SickStroke6.0

Don't waste your time man. Honestly. Leave the stock bolts on yours till the gaskets blow, then tear her down. Machine the heads for flatness, put new gaskets on, and ARP's with an EGR delete of your choice.

I agree 100%.

[RescueF250]

So you do it one at a time kool, but do you know if your gasket is blown anywhere ? do you want to do it again ? how about this I had H-11's and my gaskets were blown in 5 different locations sooooooooo think about it, you could be installing studs with blown head gaskets and not even know it. FORD doesnt not recommend just putting studs in and not replacing the gaskets. DO IT RIGHT or you'll pay later.

[bfrank81]

Originally Posted by jtk27

I didn't want to put a tuner on it till it had studs but don't have time or money to do it "right". The one at a time method has to be better than stock doesn't it?

You're better off putting the tuner on and waiting on the studs/HG until you have the scratch to do it right. There are a bunch of people on here that run custom tunes without the factory studs/HGs.

[MUDSTROKIN']

Originally Posted by RescueF250

DO IT RIGHT or you'll pay later.

I've always been told "if something's worth doing, it's worht doing right"