Header stud stripped: options?

[Michelangelo]

I thought I had my header leaking sealed with a new gasket and cleaned surfaces and all. Then I put my new stud in two of the holes and tried to torque them down, nope!! I got to 30 ft/lbs and it starts spinning. Next thing you know I tried torquing the others and the same thing happens.

What is the way to fix this thing?

[KToy]

u need to tighten the studs first then put it on. the nuts are putting pressure against the header and then unthreading the studs. or ur threads are stripped and u gonna have to get them tapped and helicoil or a machine shop redo the threads


i bet ur studs are just unthreading with the nuts thats what mine did and i just bought new studs and put studs in first real tight and then put header on and then nuts and its fine now

[high4runner]

well i think youre not supposed to tourqe em down past 17 lbs....i could be wrong...but to fix it id tap out the holes 1 size bigger and use new size bolts. gotta be carefull when tightening bolts on aluminum blocks:no no:

[Michelangelo]

I thought it was 35 lbs for the studer head nut. Do you mean the 17lbs is for when I tighten the studs into the head?

[Jeff S.]

Yep, you will strip all the threads if you try to get 35ft/lbs with the aluminum head. You could try longer studs to get you fixed if you didn't strip them too bad. Otherwise, time to heli-coil.

Jeff