Cylinder Head Fasteners

[sal_s2]

Has anyone fitted arp head studs/nuts or raceware ones?

If so how much and where from?

Cheers

[audiman]

Steveh has and he says they are great. Doug is gonna be soon, but not yet. Think they are around the £100 area, but re-useable! Give steveh a PM and find out, last time i spoke to him there was about a 2 week waiting time for them! Doh!

[Doug_RS2]

Martin has a set on his just now.

SteveH can get them - he might even have a spare set coming.

That reminds me - Steve can you send me and Martin a PM for an address to send you the cash for them?

Have you got your head off the car now Sal? Or is this the RS2 head going on?

[Habib]

Im using ARP head studs i think i bought them for around £100 but they are worth every penny

[Markus]

A guy who used to be very active on the finnish Audi-forum used ARP-studs in a BMW-turbo project and ended up with destroying the aluminium head. He said that he would never recommend ARP-studs to any engine with an al-head. I think it mostly was a washer issue. The washers that came with the ARP bolts were too small and they sank into the soft alloy. So make sure your washers are big enough.

[martinjs]

I fitted them the night before the meet, they are excellent, you dont have to tighten them up quite as much as stock ones, they give you a different torque setting for ally heads.

[SteveH]

This problem with ARP washers seems strange to me
The washers that are supplied are exactly the same size as the ones on the OE stretch bolts. I can't see how this can have any effect on the head?? That is, unless you use the original torque settings for the stretch bolts. The instructions clearly advise the recommended torque setting and it does advise to use the lower (supplied) figure for alloy heads.
I enquired about this problem with ARP and they knew nothing about it. Has anyone got any clear documented evidence that this a REAL problem and not just another urban myth? If so, did they take this up with ARP? and what was the outcome?

cheers,
Steve.

[S2 Ant]

How much are standard head bolts compared to these ones? Cos i intend to do my HeadGasket so it has a metal one in there, but dont plan on taking it off any more than that.

[Doug_RS2]

£55 from stealers - Vagparts are about £40.

Have you checked to see if you have a metal gasket?

[Doug_RS2]

I have a set of sport head washers if anyone wants me to measure them to compare. I remember someone recommended using these - can't remember where though. I don't think you need them but if they have a larger area they might be a safer bet.

[S2 Ant]

Cant see anywhere to be able to check it, I remember you saying that it is visable somewhere but i couldnt see where, prob just me not looking hard enough...

Car has done just over 140k now tho so its prob worth doing anyway when the timing belt is done to make sure all looks well inside.

[Doug_RS2]

You can feel for the rivets where the head overhangs the block - but it might be harder on a standard car - it is easy with all the standard stuff ripped out!

If you want to be safe, you should get the head leak tested, valve seats checked and at least the valve stem oil seals replaced - possiblty the guides as well - but you can go further, just look at marks head!

Before you rip it all out, you can also do a compression test on all the cylinders - that should show worn rings or bad valve seats (I think)

[mbcouple]

Raceware Head Stud Kit

Hope that helps
Hans

[Markus]

Steve,

this is not an urban myth, I can dig up the posts for you where the guy explained what happened. The problem is that they are in Finnish. In the BMW-project the ARP washers were smaller than the original ones.

Doug,

browsed through the posts discussing this potential ARP problem and several suggested the use of those sportquattro washers. Found one post where it said that the diameter of the spq washers is 3 mm bigger than the diameter of ARP washers for the 3B.

I have no personal experience regarding this matter, just sharing what I've read.

[Markus]

Found this info on the Raceware (not ARP) washers:

"The washer diameter on the RTE-1034 is 21mm (Head)
and the RTE-2008 is 19mm. (Crank) We have supplied
AudiSport with RACEWARE fasteners for many
years and these have proven to perform magnificently. "

I guess that quote is directly from Raceware, but it was taken from a post by Tommy A., the guy that hosts the Kruemmer-list.