Replacing Head Case Studs - Procedure ?

[Broncoblair]

So about to tackle this task, I have 10mm case studs with case savers... 3 of the 8 lower studs are stripping, in fact one has come out so much it's stopped the rocker on my intake on valve 1, so it has to come out at this point and i want to redo all of them.

With the case savers, can I still use loctite when reinstalling the studs ? Do they make self tapping 10mm studs? I cant seem to find any.

I've read the 2 nuts method is best to remove the studs, what's the best way to install them? With visecrips im afraid ill strip them, is there a stud install tool to tighten the studs down ?

Thanks !

It's a 1600dp. So I think the bottom studs are the small ones...

[airschooled]

What is stripping, EXACTLY? The case, the insert, or the stud itself? There is a different approach to all three.

On a single port, the bottom studs are long, the top studs are medium-short. On a dual port, the bottom studs are long, the outer top studs are medium-short, and the inner studs are even shorter.

Robbie
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[VW_Jimbo]

This is not a job for anyone who has never done it before. Magnesium is soft and brittle. It does not machine well, unless you have the right tooling, equipment and knowledge. I have installed thousands of case savers, in a machine shop, but only into disassembled cases. I cannot imagine getting good - even okay results doing this at home. I fear you may do more damage to your case. Possibly rendering it irrepairible. You should disassemble the motor and take the case into a machine shop, who preferably knows vw engines. They will take care of it.

Disregard the above, if you are a machinest and have access to a shop.

2 nut method to reinstall, also.
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Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[Broncoblair]

[VW_Jimbo]

Be patient. Listen to your gut. Go with the shop you feel better about. Then you will not have doubts down the road! Peace of mind is sometime you have to choose.
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Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[katalla]

if you dont mind driving there is brother machine in ontario, or rimco in santa ana.

[VW_Jimbo]

I do all my own machining at the shop I worked at in the past. They do not have a machinist anymore, so I cannot recommend them. If I had to go somewhere my first shop is Gene Berg in Santa Ana, then Rimco. Both have been servicing acvws for years. I was in Gene's shop last week! Great guys with tons of knowledge!
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Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[Broncoblair]

[Broncoblair]

[eashc]

[

Not sure Rosie would make it to Santa Ana without overheating... Does anyone trust Bela's in the SFV? I could probably make it to Santa Ana if i stopped in the middle for lunch. After about 45 mins of driving i get the oil light when I stop at redlights and the engine is sputtering.. Im assuming its overheating because im loosing compression and the other cyls are working harder, but I could be wrong.[/quote]

There's a shop in Canoga Park(Conemac) that was decent at one time. It's still there give them a ring.

[mark tucker]

hopefuly you have the 12 mm case savores...but probably not with 10 mm studs... if the case is dead and you have the 14mm in it now you may have to go with 16mm solid inserts.Ive seen those on flebay. I dont know any thing about them though. I used to have custom incerts made for V8 stuff when they needed it. Ive also seen...hear it comes.....a long galvonized....bolt stuck through the case from the inside...... and....galvonized1/2" bolts through the heads..... I reckon there are lots of ways to "fix" them. I would however go with 8mm chromoly studs in stead of the 10mm on a mag case. ( my old,first vw engine I built was a mag case with 10mm studs& inserts ....I dont have a clue as to why they never pulled with the 32 pound tq I used, other than it never ran hot. of course it had aluminum head gaskets so some of that toque was reduced when they squished took set.

[Broncoblair]

[heimlich]

Remember to measure when putting them in. If you don't they might be too short or too long to hold on the heads.
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[FeelthySanchez]

After you've dropped the engine, snap a few pics of the pulled hdwe & we might be able to walk ya thru it.

As Jimbo has stated, it's not a task for the unsavvy novice.
"Re-doing all of them" will require a complete tear-down, so ya might as well rebuild it if she's a high-mileage mill.
If however, there's any interest in repairing just a couple stripped savers, read-on. If the case is already 10mm "saver'd", a self-tapping stud is not the answer here (they're just a band-aid anyways).

I've done this in the field before, & w/ good results - so there's a fair chance of repairing it. If ya find yerself in a jam, maybe shoot me a PM - I'm in NWest OC.
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[Broncoblair]

So I got around to removing these lower studs that wont torque. 2 of the 3 will not come out. Any ideas? Am I going to have to disassemble the engine to get to them ?

[VW_Jimbo]

[Broncoblair]

[Buggeee]

You might save a lot by doing the dissasembly yourself, and just taking the case in for machining. If that is something you would be interested in that is. You could ask them what level of dissasembly they would need. I think I read somewhere that some of these cases the stud holes go all the way through into the interior but I can't remember if that's natural or caused by punching them out by bottoming the studs too hard. Mine did not go all the way through. Jimbo has a lot of professional experience so there is probably a reason he was doing this work on a disassembled case.
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[VW_Jimbo]

Buggeee. Right on the money. To insert case savers correctly on a Mill, the case has to be split and then clamped into the vise on the machine's table. Accuracy is paramount, depth of bore is paramount. Threading those new holes, you guessed it, a skilled job in that soft magnesium. Inserting the saver, easy, but again experience rules here. Seen a few newby mechanics f this step up, then it is back to reboring for larger savers.

And yes several of the case holes penetrate into the main engine cavity where the crank and cam resides. A few do not and have to bottom out in there own cavity. Bore in too far on #3 and you got a botched case!

Experience rules here and that is what is being paid for. Boring, cleaning, threading, cleaning, inserting saver then stud and finally cleaning is a zombie like experience after you have done this a few hundred times!
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Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[Broncoblair]

I honestly don't have the room to even put the engine when its out... I share a small 2 car garage at my apartment. I wish I had a real garage. I got a quote to redo the whole engine with case savers for $1500. That's a lot of money to me but Im willing to invest in the engine if it will get me some mileage out of the car.