LA small block,Do you put an oil passage in your head stud?

OM Mopar,

I pointed this out to you very early in this thread that machining/cutting a groove or notch in a bolt weakens it. It weakens it because the grain structure has been interrupted. A fastener with a necked down [ reduced shank ] is a different animal as the grain flow [ & hence strength of the fastener ] is not interrupted.
Nobody is having a go at you, certainly not me, just trying to point out that the method you are using to obtain a gap for oil flow is not the best way of doing it....

Then you tell me what is the better and easier way? Would it be cutting a groove in someones new head from the top of the hole to the gasket surface of the head?


Been working just fine on many engines built by shops other then ours. When was the last time you torqued a stud and snapped one. And if you did you might want to look at the weak spot. It is at the base of the last thread on the coarse side. Don't y'all think the studs were tested after this modification?

What would be your suggestion when using studs. Edelbrock heads come with the two bolts . You could use them in place of the studs needing to maintain oil flow but that is not why they include them with the heads. We have been collecting them if anyone needs any.

There is nothing to keep the stud centered in the .030 clearance hole in the head . If the stud is off .015 in the hole toward the intake side there goes your direct oil flow.

What would cause a more critical failure? No Fresh Oil to the valve gear and springs. Or a stud that you assume may be weakened .

The proper and easiest way would be to use the bolts. They keep the shank centered with the larger Diameter under the head. But then why buy studs?

The compression we run on our engine with these studs is up there and never a failure. So I don't know how they would fail on some wannabe race engines . The reason for stating compression and RPMs on our engine in a prior post was for comparison. But the engineers called that insignificant because not everyone runs that set up. If I say white you all say black and if I say black you all say white.

You can take the info I shared and use it or not. I really don't care to hear stupid criticism from book smart people that never think out of the box. As I said the stud was tested for higher then the recommended torque. If your happy with what you have then just move on. You all may find teaching the CRT book easier to understand C ritical R acing T opics LOL