My 225 engine has a homemade, 16-gauge, tubing header instead of a cast iron manifold and an aluminum (Aussiespeed) intake manifold.

This has made its installation/removal, a time consuming, frustrating, process.

I am wondering "what if" I replaced all of the studs that are, now, threaded so that half-inch nuts can be screwed onto them, with Allen-Head capscrews, screwed into the head, but still used the original washers and triangular washers, what would be the result.

The reason I would like to do this is, it is nearly impossible to get any kind of a wrench or extension/socket onto several of the half-inch nuts that are screwed onto the studs, due to the lack of header pipe clearance. It is a homemade header (turbo-mount) and, when it was being built, wrench-clearance was never a consideration...

Allen wrenches are thin and will go in where a regular wrench or socket/extension, won't fit.

Is it worth a try?

Any advice/information will be appreciated!

Bill. in Conway, Arkansas

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1964 Valiant 4-door sedan, 225 turbo/904

clamp load is clamp load,,you have a great idea, I will go with the 'Billdedman Bolt Solution' next time I have a slant exhaust manifold off.

I have Dual Dutra's on the 83 D150 with a cast Mopar Performance 2BBL intake
and
Hooker Long Tube wrapped headers on the 68 Barracuda with a Clifford 4BBl intake

With the Dutra's- MP Cast Intake, after the 1st install I figured out that some judicious action with a grinding burr on the exterior radisus of the Dutra's would significantly help the install,,and it did.

With the wrapped Hookers-Clifford, I ground on the Clifford to get socket clearance until I broke through the Clifford and had to weld it back,,
still tight but workable, with a socket that has the OD ground..

I like your idea of using short allen head cap screws.
I have planned on my next intake manifold install to get perfect alignment of the intake to the port openings then drill and install dowels,
to control the front to rear up and down pitch,
would do the the same on the next Dutra Dual - split exhaust manifold install.

use RTV on the through holes..

My Allen-Head idea, while it sounded good to me at the time, was presented here and judged to be a not-so-good idea for several good reasons, including the ruat-in factor, the not-so-sturdy physical makeup of ball-end Allen wrenches and the potential difficulty in removing the original studs. After hearing all the arguments against it, I decided that most had valid reasons not to do this.... so, I went back to my original plan. and will try to make that work.

But, thanks for the kind words and if you do, in fact, decide to change your motor over to Allen-head bolts, I'd really love to hear about how it works out. I really like the idea of dowel pins...

What's your engine in, by-the-way?

Bill

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1964 Valiant 4-door sedan, 225 turbo/904

Harbor freight has a nice little set of wobble extensions that will halp with the angle and clearance problems in the area you're working in.

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsea ... extensions

and if you don't wish to trust the standard extension set, go for the impact set in 3/8".

Roger

Thanks for the link; I'm on my way to get that set right now...

Might just solve my problem by using the 1/4" wobble extension.

I appreciate the info!!!!


Bill

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1964 Valiant 4-door sedan, 225 turbo/904

I have a built 904 that will need to be installed in the 68 Barracuda over the next month(s), so the long tube hookers will need to be removed when that happens,, when the hookers go back on, I'll be using allen bolts on the bottom row.

I was wondering if the fact that the manifold bolts go through to water, what might be the effect if I used stainless steel Allen bolts; could that prevent them rusting in their bores?

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1964 Valiant 4-door sedan, 225 turbo/904

Should work fine although SS can be a bit more brittle. Not a biggie for this low torque application. Make sure to use Teflon tape or something similar to seal to the water jacket. I liberally wrap with Teflon tape and I have not had trouble getting old (steel) studs out. The factory ones are hard to get out for sure - some kind of threadlock or glue-like sealer, plus corrosion...

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Thanks for the good advice! I have gotten some wobble-end, 1/4" extensions (from sources on this and other BB's) and will try that first, but, if I can't git-r-dun that way, I'll attempt to use stainless steel Allen-head bolts wsith Teflon tape.

I appreciate the good info!

Bill

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1964 Valiant 4-door sedan, 225 turbo/904

I would suggest keeping the studs, but you could use a flange nut that fits a smaller socket. here is a good example from mcmaster in A286 (like inconel or hastalloy) which would outlast the life of the car http://www.mcmaster.com/#90997a800/=13cxxz0

I have not made any changes to this hold-down of the intake/exhaust system yet, so, I will definitely look into this Mcmaster 12-point fastener system, as it looks like it may be the most workable solution, yet.

Thanks so much for the great suggestion!!!

I appreciate it!

Bill, in central Arkansas

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1964 Valiant 4-door sedan, 225 turbo/904

The first turbo header I made was a royal pain to remove using various short wrenches, wobble ends, and 1/4 drive small ratchets lol. The new header I recently finished is so much easier it can be removed with a normal ratchet and extension on everything just because I kept all the primaries pointing straight down for a few inches before making their turns to lead to the collectors. I feel your pain my old header was brutal on the on the bottom bolts lol.

Kev

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Just as an FYI, I would worry about the brittleness in the application no so much on the torque side, but on the weight of the stack and exhaust pipe if they side load the stud... I drilled 3 out of my last head... brand new grade 8...snapped clean off at the head, never heat cycled... but the duster was rolled off a flat bed tow truck and had a bounce as it slid off the deck, and the hyperpak intake and dual duals with short exhaust pipe were enough to snap a select few on that bounce....

So make sure you have your stuff supported at regular intervals so it doesn't put the stud in shear...

FYI.

DusterIdjit's description sounds like why there was so much bracketry and bracing in the original Hyper Pak setup.

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