Valve cover stud

I thought I might share this and prevent someone else from the same fate.

A valve cover hold down stud on a P51 (and I think on the A460) can, and will, work its way into the intake runner and on top of the piston.

Mine were red loctited into the wing nut hold down, but one came loose and made lots of noise while driving through the water box. Only bolts for me from now on.

Also on the frpp scj heads....

And factory iron CJ's

Not on A460's

did this just happen over the weekend???

yes, Friday night... on the 6th pass of the evening

Damn that sucks, did you get any good passes in before this happened???

I guess one way to assure that doesn't happen to your engine is to use "real" studs" (pardon me for not knowing the proper terminology), such as ARP valve cover studs, 1/4-20 lower end, with 1/4-28 upper end - they physically cannot work their way into the intake port. They may be expensive, but not nearly as expensive as a grenaded motor. Believe me when I say I'm NOT trying to be a sarcastic - just trying to be helpful.

Wayne (SAWDOFF) Pearce

One could also gall the threads a bit at the center of a piece of allthread, but Wayne's solution is best.

when was using a429 heads i tigged a small "bead" on the stud so it would have a stop on the stud. never broke and they lasted for years.

I use 1/4 20 allen head bolts put them in with a tee handle allen wrench

I like the ARP valve cover studs because they have the "ball nose" on them, and it makes it a whole lot easier to drop the washer on, and start the nut. Being that the threads are "rolled", the nut starts easy, and spins down the length of the stud with no hang ups.

Wayne (SAWDOFF) Pearce

460Dave wrote:I thought I might share this and prevent someone else from the same fate.  

A valve cover hold down stud on a P51 (and I think on the A460) can, and will, work its way into the intake runner and on top of the piston.

Mine were red loctited into the wing nut hold down, but one came loose and made lots of noise while driving through the water box.  Only bolts for me from now on.

A "set screw" type stud very easily can but, a stud with a thread break in the middle with fine threads on the top will not.