Originally Posted by
Reddirt204
I totally agree with this, when I had to replace the studs on mine I noticed the studs had rubbed on the manifold outer edges, not the inners, to me this indicated that the ali head had expanded more than the cast manifold (this is just boiler maker logic so use at your own risk...) I de-webbed mine, installed longer studs with spacers (same as on Toyota D4D engines) and drilled out the end couple of holes a size or 2. I didn't have time to get it surfaced but did use some wet and dry on a large sheet of glass, sort of holding up so far. I also painted it with some pot belly black paint, just to stop the rust, so far that is also holding quite well
To the OP they can run a long time with broken studs (mine had 3) will make a bit of noise and may have peak boost issues but nothing that is a real show stopper
cheers
Redd
cheers
Redd