Under 60 minutes........
 

A fellow PP member has sent me a few emails today inquiring about using Snap-ON collet stud remover and techniques used. He asked me if I used penetrating oil and heat to remove the cylinder head studs. My reply was no penetrating oil or heat was used but using heat may help loosen those stubborn studs. As a matter of fact, I mentioned to him that I have an engine that I will be removing the cylinder head studs sometime this week.

After taking my regular afternoon nap, I went to the garage and start moving the newly delivered parts to my basement to make room. With four (4) engines in my small garage, the work area is quite limited. It was around 4:00 PM when my attention was attracted by this engine. Why not do something before having dinner at 6:00 PM?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1462493704.jpg

Went to my tool box and brought out the Snap-On stud remover, impact wrench, a couple of sockets, an adjustable wrench, and turned on the air compressor. It was about 4:15 PM. Waited for the clock to hit 4:30 PM and began removing one cylinder head stud one after the other. With the radio on and with music as background, time went by quickly and this was what I've done:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1462494364.jpg

All 24 cylinder head studs removed and it was only 5:25 PM. I was not rushing or trying to break a work record. I was just trying to kill time before dinner time and was expecting to be done by 6:00 PM or later.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1462494680.jpg

The impact wrench was set at medium setting. See picture below.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1462494803.jpg

Only two (2) cylinder head studs needed max. impact setting the rest were removed using medium force as shown in the picture. Don't give me any credit, the Snap-On collet stud remover and the impact wrench did the job. I was just an operator. Tom Butler was the one who introduced this method to me. My first engine rebuild in the 90's took me almost a full day to remove the 12 lower head studs using vise grips and heat. What a difference when you use the correct tools for the job.

Tony

Agreed. I love this thing.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1460521611.jpg

You have more than mine........
 

Jose,

Spending some money for the right tools is worth it. I only have the 10-mm & 8-mm collets. So far, the 10-mm stud remover has conveniently removed well over 100 studs since I got the Snap-On tools. Getting better as more engine rebuild is done.

Tony

I used that tool with just a wrench and they all came out with out oil or heat. Had to man up on a couple but was really not a big deal.

Chris

Very nice Clean and smooth. What are the snap on tool numbers if I may ask?

Thanks, Rick

Rick,
Just ordered these a few weeks back...

CG500-2 for the housing
CG500-43 for the tapered collet (M10x1.5)

and thanks to Tony for posting!

Tony, unless you're building turbo or C-2 you did twice the needed work....
Nice job,
Bruce

Customer is always right..........
 

Bruce,

I completely agree with you. Tried several times to convince the owner of the motor that the 24 steel head studs are more than sufficient for a street car. His reply was;

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1462587037.jpg

He already bought a new set of cylinder head studs and handed me the precious box. Usually, there were only 12 studs removal per my previous rebuilds but adding another 12 removal was extra half hour of labor. You have to make them happy. Period.

Tony

or >60 min with 18V electric impact wrench
 

Successfully completed the rest of the teardown Saturday. My Ryobi 3-speed impact wrench made quick work of the 4-5-6 bank head studs; less so on 1-2-3 bank. Speed '3' needed throughout...

I think towards the end (last 5 or so studs), the 300 ft-lb torque rating of the wrench was definitely optimistic as it began to struggle even with full charge. On the last few stubborn studs, I found myself having to cycle between impacting and working the stud manually with a breaker bar. Definitely made me wishful for some nice air-powered tools :)

Total time (not including recharging) ~3 hours for 24 studs

Take your time and enjoy the experience.........
 

Paul,

You are doing fine. More than 20 years ago, it took me a full day to remove the lower 12 Dilavar head studs with heat and brute force. I was dead tired by end of the day. Today, it is totally different. The tools and techniques we learned to share makes the work fun and emjoyble. Time to start spending numerous hours cleaning after cleaning the engine parts. I do not put emphasis how quick to do the job. Enjoy the learning process and take your time. This is a never ending learning curve.

Tony

Awesome work Tony!


I've never stripped one of these engines, but why would you only need to remove 12?

impressive, i used the same tools (stud remover + impact gun) and it took ALOT longer, but it was my first time (and i used heat to play safe), and i was afraid of stapping a stud, especially the divilar ones. Experience makes a huge difference, just shows how quick you can do it when you combine them both. Good work Tony!

Dilavar head studs........
 

Ben,

The SC engines were built with 12 steel cylinder heads on top (intake side) and 12 Dilavar head studs at the bottom (exhaust side). It turned out later that these Dilavar (alloy) head studs were susceptible to break due to material failure. Corrosion and heat cycles cause the Dilavar head studs to break prematurely compared to the OEM steel studs.

The remedy to these problems is to replace the 12 Dilavar head studs with steel studs. So the magic number is 12.

Tony

That is so true. I went through my first top end rebuild with only the help of the Bentley manual, Wayne's rebuild book and this forum. In reality, it probably took several months too long because there were lots of stoppages in progress because I had taken my time researching all the different types of tools that I needed when I got to a certain point. My search focused on one thing, what tool was going to allow me to do this project most efficiently. I looked at it as the flip side of that approach was buying the wrong tool was going to cost me more time and would end up costing me more money in the long run because something broke during removal or installation.
As a result, I had a great experience.