Correct! 1982/83 models had "better" studs from the factory. We've had '82> engines apart with 150K + miles, and their studs still looked good.

Peter... after your very informative post (7/27 10:17 pm) I have been trying to listen more closely to see if I have a 'problem' or not... my valves definitely need adjusted (it seems to me) as they clatter a great deal. The only time I hear something that might resemble a 'phat, phat, phat..." is when I launch in second gear and lug the engine a bit.

My current thinking is that this is not a tail tale sign but just the loose rockers and luging the engine.

However,... my question... when would the phat, pop, phat be most noticible?

Later SC dilavar head studs.........
 

The later SC's may have a better set of dilavar head studs than the earlier SC's but they still break prematurely. An good example of this is my friend's '83SC with less than 100K miles had broken head studs. As long as you have these 30 years old dilavar studs in your engines, you have a ticking bomb waiting to happen anytime soon. Either you wait till it happens or replace them before it cause damage to your cylinder/s. My two-cents.

Tony

The "pop, pop, pop..." is most noticeable when the engine is loaded, perhaps lugged, as in your second gear start. It can be worse on a cold engine, and is harder to hear, in the beginning, at higher revs. A long distance diagnosis is really difficult, but the noise will never be a "rattle," or irregular. It will have a definite cyclic quality, because you will hear only the compression loss, usually, on one specific cylinder.

Regarding re-torquing, that is not necessary on engines that have an aluminum crankcase, and are in sound condition. If the engine is a 2.7 liter, it's best to gently re-torque the heads, cold, at your routine valve adjustment interval. Properly installed case savers will go a long way toward preserving the torque of the cylinder head nuts, but even then they can loosen slightly.

BTW; here's a picture of the tool that I use (unfortunately I can't find the similar hex socket on which I've ground the shaft slightly to provide extra clearance for certain applications)...it's 10mm, made by Snap-on, and is 3/8" drive.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1312241096.jpg

Peter - Following my top end rebuild, after my shakedown day at the track, I was going to dump the oil, re-check the valve adj., check all bolts (cam tower, etc.) and check the head torque. Do you feel re-checking the torque is unnecessary? This is a track-only car and is not babied... ever. :D

Hi, Gary.

We always re-torqued heads following engine work! On competition engines we did the re-torque and valve adjustment after the shakedown, and did the same inspection at 1,000 miles on street engines.

Sorry for any confusion or omission, my earlier post was only intended to discuss re-torquing at a routine maintenance valve adjustment.

No problem, I figured as much but I just wanted to be perfectly clear. Somewhere along the line my #4 loosened up enough to allow the HG to get blown out and then crushed during a routine valve adj./torque check (ate the ring grooves high spots, requiring a new cylinder). I figure I will, due to the abuse level she gets, check torque once per season at least. What never ceases to amaze me is she was running great and I ran my fastest time ever with 6 bent exhaust and 2 messed up intake valves! I think the lowest leakdown number was over 30 with the highest being up near 100%... :D