TR6 TR 6 Head Studs, replace?

[gbtr6]

I am getting my engine machine work done and the shop wants to know if they should replace the head studs. I am not aware of any issues with mine, no bad headgasket situation. I do run a bit higher compression, but have in the past with no trouble. I know it's possible for them to stretch. Any ideas? I am leaning toward re-use.

Thanks,
Perry

 

[TR3driver]

A trick I got from one of the racers is to spin a new nut down the clean threads. If the nut binds about 2/3 down, discard the stud. The most likely (and most harmful) place for them to stretch is just under where the old nut sat.

I've found a few TR3 studs that flunked that test; but never had a failure with original studs that pass the test. (Of course I also don't re-use them if there is any obvious corrosion or damage.)

 

[glemon]

What he said, never replaced a stud on several head and engine rebuilds, never had a problem, Randall's test makes sense, if money is no object, and/or you are building a racing engine or high performance street motor you may want to look into ARP studs or the like. PS, if you are keeping the old studs and a couple don't pass the thread test drop me a line, I have a couple extra TR6 blocks and I am sure at least a few of the studs are good.

 

[pdplot]

FWIW, I replaced mine when we did a valve job. Some were corroded from coolant. Double-nutted them off. None broke.