question for people using aftermarket head bolts?
 

The aftermarket head bolts for the 5.0 dont have the one bolt with the stud on top where the factory bolt (passenger side, front) uses a bolt/stud combination to mount the fuel rail.

Where did you mount the fuel rail? Or did you use the factory bolt in this one location?

head bolts that hold the fuel rails???

you are going to have to help us out with some more info.
i dont think you are talking about head bolts.

adam

Are you thinking of the 5/16" intake bolt /stud that mounts the heater tube?

No the ARP bolts don't have the stud head bolt you are talking about. I guess you can look around for a stud head bolt but I never even bothered, the fuel rail isn't going anywhere as long as it is bolted into the lower intake, it isn't even noticeably loose now that it's all back together. I wouldn't worry about it.

So you just left the fuel rail mount point unattached at that location, and it seems fine? It gives support to the lower rail and I really dont want to leave it "hanging", then the only thing holding the lower rail is the connection to the top rail, and then you have the quick connect area where the seals are with a load on it. Not the best idea.

For the rest of you who dont know what Im talking about, the passenger side, lower, forward head bolt has a stud on top of it that the fuel rail mounts to. It is similar in design to the intake bolt/ stud combination that holds the coolant tranfer tube.

You any good at welding?

Actually Chris (mach 1), Chris (91lx) is right. It's not a big deal when installed. As I'm sure you've experienced in the past, the couplings used are spring lock, which actually seal better with more force applied against them. That's why if you don't have the removal tool in place correctly, they are very hard to get apart.

It's up to you, though. In my opinion, the negative consequences and their probabilities are worse using the old head bolt rather than a new one.

Take care,
-Chris

Yeah, I guess ill let it fly unattached. When I put it back together, I give it a close look, and decide If I think it will be ok. Im sure it will work, just dont like to leave things like lower fuel lines un-supported. Maybe its the aircraft mechanic in me coming out.

You gave me a good idea chris. Cut the stud off of the factory head bolt and weld it to the new head bolt. Maybe Ill see if I can get my machinist buddy to do it. He works for coors light 12 packs..:)

That or find an alternative point to mount it.

I've had a stud welded to the head bolt before (thus, the suggestion), and it worked fine, but my welding skills aren't good enough to do it and still have access to the 12pt bolt head for torquing. I can do general welding with my MIG, but that was beyond my skills. Anyway, I found that the PITA it was to finally get it done wasn't worth the effort. I have dropped hints with associates at ARP, but nothing new was available last time I checked (8 or 9 months ago).

Take care,
-Chris

Mach 1,

I noticed the same thing the other day when I dug through the ARP box looking for the stud/bolt.

I totally agree with your caution(I'm an aerospace type myself).
You can see that the bracket is there to reduce movement and stress to the joint. Without it the joint is the subject to whatever vibration & shaking that the line sees, in addition to the movement when the motor rocks in the motor mounts.

Welding a stud onto the ARP bolt is a really good idea.

I ran a thread chaser down the stock bolt and plan to use it with one of the ARP washers in an attempt to duplicate the torque that the rest of the bolts will see.

Now that I think about this, I'm gonna go out and see if I might be able to bend that flimsy bracket around so that I could use another nearby (non-head) bolt...........

Let me know what you end up doing. I'm torkin those heads in tomarrow someway or another!

Dan

Strange, I don't remember deleting it on my motor before I started swapping heads. I know it isn't there now. I still can't envision what it is/was, but I guess it doesn't matter at this point.

Dan,

Its going to be awhile before my engine goes back together. Im having valve spring shim problems. I ordered some spring seat discs from comp. cams, but they will have to be machined down to fit my heads.

By that time, you should be all done with yours. Were you going to use the factory bolt in that location?

If you figure an alternative mount point, let me know. Let me know what you do eithier way.

NO SLO PK- you might want to take a look at those edelbrock head valve spring shims you have, and make sure you dont have the same problem as I did. If I didnt happen to stumble upon it, they probably eventually would have ate through the shims entirely and into the soft aluminum head, and then I would have really been in trouble.