That is some serious power. Keep working on it, cant wait to hear how it shapes up. I hate getting locked out of 3rd. I have to granny shift into 3rd sometimes. My trans is bad though. Brand new trans and 1 and 2 syncros are gone already after 20k. I used the right factory fluid too. I have another new F40 going in spring time, I am going to try another fluid.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cob...2f0e6bf2fe.jpg
Finally opened my motor up. Looks like I'm gonna need another sleeve and piston. The head was lifting on #4 cylinder, this is #1. Since it's going back to machine shop probably just do the 1/2" studs.

So I finally heard back from ARP regarding 1/2" studs.

Thanks for the inquiry. Our 1/2” stud will be designed a bit differently by having only 1.250” of block thread and the same for the nut. They are sold individually, part number AR7.250-1LB.

Gonna order monday

Good info, thank you for sharing. Do you order right off of ARP or elsewhere, and how much?

Had to order directly from ARP as they are sold individually and not listed on site. They told me it would be $170 shipped but I'll see when I get invoice. 12-14 week wait time. 👎

I have a similar setup in my 06 l61. It’s been running since 2011 and it just lifted the head a couple weeks ago adding in a bit more boost than usual. Cylinder four as well which is interesting. I was curious which would go first, the arp head studs or the stock crank. Time to plan a rebuild.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cob...5a3f1f7904.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cob...a51de64883.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cob...61a6f04b59.jpg
sleeve finally showed up yesterday. After numerous emails finally called and Lit a fire under ARP and they're going to send the 1/2" studs Monday. Might have car back together for first snowfall. 😂

after a long hiatus, im back at this again. my 15 year old l61 is tired, valve guides are worn out and cylinders are out of round. i could freshen it up, i just dont think its worth it.

so i decided to send the block to CSS and have them put their girdle in. i was going to send it to tj performance however he has been real slow to get back to me and he is only in his shop a couple days a week. as much as id like the sleeves in it as well, i dont think its really needed for what ill realistically do with it. im on a bit of a tighter budget than id like to be (started making other major changes to the car before doing a leak down test on the motor and discovering its tired), so i gotta save money where it makes sense.

next thing im trying to sort out is what i actually need for rods. i find a lot of conflicting info on what the chinese made h beams (k1, molnar, eagle, zzp, etc) are actually good for. rpm is my main concern, im spinning the car to 8600 now, id like to be safe to over 9000 rpm. i dont know if these will be safe for that, or if i need carrillos or pauters at this point.

I've been running the zzp without issue, but not going over 8200 rpm. May raise it a little now that I'll be doing full balance shaft delete and not just nbs. 9000 is pretty wild, you going solid lifter?

already am solid lifter, with the billet core version of the gm race cams.

now saying i spin it to 8600 rpm, thats where i have the limiter set. my shift light is set at 8200 rpm, but in first and 2nd by the time i shift its pulled well past the 8200 rpm, 3rd gear i usually shift pretty close to the light, and the car goes through the top end at 7200 rpm. it did make power all the way to the limiter, which tells me there is more usable rpm up there, however the car pulled so well above 6000 rpm i didn't think there was any need to run it higher. the new combo being a 2.0l instead of the 2.2 in theory should make less torque, so i may need to rev it higher, although the increase in compression i have planned (10.5 vs 9.0) and some cam timing changes will hopefully make that a non issue.

i did some more searching on rods, seems the general consensus is stay away from k1. seems they are fully machined in china and tolerances are a bit hit and miss. the molnars are also forged and rough machined in china, but finish machined in the states, and are a much better piece. as of right now im planning to go with the zzp rods. going back through the thread years ago when zzp did the 898 hp deal, i never realized caught on at the time that it wasn't just a test of their deck plate, but also their rods. i figure if they took that, and the videos it appeared they were running over 8500rpm, they should be fine for what im doing. id love to put carrillo rods in it, but its literally triple the price of k1 or molnar, and more than double the price of zzp.

heads dont lift standard apr studs have held past 600 with ease there is a problem in the valvetrain that needs to modded and thats why you have hg problems as for blocks gm used bates sleeved blocks to well past 1400hp dartons are a great choice also like bates they are good to a 90mm bore

ive done a css block they are rated to 700hp and i would highly recommend sleeving a block before hand as you will have to remove .010 from the bores to make them straight again

gen3 blocks are good to point even when closed and i still believe the lsj block moded will always rein supreme

the problem is not making power its making the power while keeping it reliable and 99% just it together and wonder why it did not last and thats where very few pay attention to the small details and choose a not so good key puncher

swap to lnf axles its not hard and changes ow the car feels lnf axles all you need are lnf control arms(bigger ball joints) steering knuckles and hubs or g6 knuckles and hub they use the same ball joints as lsj

said engine build drives the car from the correct end.....this is in my porsche 944. what i got sorted out for axles has held up to 1.5 60', 10.70s at 130mph. not bad for essentially a rod and piston 2.2.

is it really necessary to take the bores out .010" to get them straight with a CSS? i was planning on 0.002" oversized pistons, i was under the impression thats all that was required. my block is already at css being worked on, is sleeving the block after the css possible, or is that a bad idea?

care to share that the valve train problem/mod is?

Yes it is required but If you had better then stock sleeves the the .010 over bore would be fine and the block gets decked also so new sleeves makes it even better on both ends the more you remove from the deck or the head retards cam timing also

well, the black friday deals got me. drop in sleeves and diamond pistons from ottp, and rods and a timing chain guide from zzp.

you need to put the sleeves in before its decked at css

out of curiousity, whats the reasoning? does the deck plate cause the top of the block to pinch in when the sleeve is removed and make it hard to get the sleeve back in?

in the end, really doesnt matter. woke up to an e-mail stating my block had been damaged in shipping. a rather large chunk is broken off in the timing cover area. could it be fixed? might be able to weld it back together, might have more damage i cant see. i dont really think its worth spending another $200 to find out if its going in the scrap bin.

so, starting over completely.

the deck plate distorts the entire bore the so a .010 is needed to fix the other reason is so you dont have to deck the block twice the more you remove the more it retards cam timing deck it once not twice. when i ship a block i i put the bedplate on and a front cover it keeps them from getting broke

GM used 1/2 studs in their build 🤷
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cob...4f991d8a8b.jpg

what gm has done and what you are trying to do are 2 different things i have a lingenfelter block and a bates block both capable of hp north of 800 plus and they are both on 7/16 studs the studs are not your problem

Are you pushing that power?

nope but still facts are facts your not either but if you want a stouter stud just get a honda b18c 7/16 L19 stud

I looked into that, this was less cost.

on a production block it will make the block weaker and will have a higher chance of cracking around the stud gm ran 1/2 on a race block are you still running a 86mm bore

Yes 86mm. Have less than 0% concern about block cracking.