The allen sockets on mine seem to be fine. I used wrist strength to seat them. I agree the nuts are not great. I had to take a few off (because of the issue I posted about) and they basically lost their locking ability. I have new ones from Belmetric that are probably better quality that I'll install once I'm ready for final installation.

Just FYI this is the kit from Paragon, I see similar or maybe the same one all over ebay and etc. Maybe the ones that Paragon gets are from the upper end of the quality control bell curve.

 

Meh.
On all the cars I've done head gaskets on, not once has the stock steel nut/steel stud given me a problem. I don't unhook the headers from the collector either - I remove the headers from the head.

There have been a handful where the stud comes out rather than letting the nut go, but in that case it just becomes a bolt

So my current and future engine get steel/steel, and on my next engine I might stud the intake and use all regular steel there too...

 

I hate unbolting the collectors. If there's a way not to, that's what I always do.

 

So, problem solved after some persuasion and swearing. Headers on.


But... I CANNOT recommend that anyone buy the hardware kit that Spencer and I have referenced.


Upon closer inspection, the quality is actually **** poor. The indents for the allen keys weren't on center for some of the studs.

One of the studs wasn't threading in well at all. I thought it was an issue with crap inside the tapped hole in the head, but it wasn't. I ran the stud through a M8x1.25 die, and it wasn't even close. There was tons of material on the shank, as though the rolling machine wasn't going in far enough when the threads were formed. In fact, I was using their supplied allen wrench to turn the stud into the die because it was convenient. The wrench BROKE and cut my hand upon medium resistance. Jeebus. Ended up reusing a stock stud for that one....but now I want to replace all of them.

OEM from here on out, as far as stuff like this. I'm going to be contacting Paragon about their choice to sell this item. They didn't produce it, so it's not on them. Maybe they they just didn't know the non-quality is how it is.

 

they've tasted blood!

 

The factory nuts and washers are very high quality (though silly expensive).

 

That's ok, I would rather pay a little more for quality. It's still less expensive in a hassle/time/sanity sense than using crap. I know what I'll be using on my 951 engine. I wish this concern was documented more due to widespread vendors, but I guess this is something.

 

maybe i should get some stickers for the valve cover that say "powered by Ace Hardware"

 

I actually bought some ordinary studs to use, before doing research going with stainless. Anything zinc plated is absolutely off limits, because of the melting point of zinc being lower than potential EGT. So that eliminates hardware store stuff.


But the rest of this car is basically held together by yellow zinc plated stuff from Belmetric.

 

my car is probably 30% zip ties by weight.
sure makes changing rod bearings easier