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Stainless steel head studs.
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2021 10:22 am
by matt of the vivas
I see you can now get Stainless head studs for the Stag, and thus Dolomite 1850. Having been to a great deal of trouble last year to remove the head off mine, having non-corroding studs is appealing. Anyone used them? Any down sides? Thanks... Matt.
Re: Stainless steel head studs.
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2021 11:27 am
by yorkshire_spam
I'm not sure stainless will solve the problem, can't you still get galvanic corrosion between aluminium alloys and stainless?
I could be wrong though?
Re: Stainless steel head studs.
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2021 12:54 pm
by Magenta Auto Sprint
if you look at a galvanic corrosion chart, stainless steel and aluminium is worse than steel and aluminium.
Re: Stainless steel head studs.
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2021 3:18 pm
by matt of the vivas
Is the issue galvanic corrosion generally? Certainly the old studs on mine were heavily corroded and swollen, stainless would at least avoid this problem. Combine with some anti-seize compound for best protection?
Re: Stainless steel head studs.
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2021 4:30 pm
by soe8m
matt of the vivas wrote:
Is the issue galvanic corrosion generally? Certainly the old studs on mine were heavily corroded and swollen, stainless would at least avoid this problem. Combine with some anti-seize compound for best protection?
It's almost common knowlegde that stainless steel and alloy don't work together. Putting an anti-seize compound or copaslib even makes it worse as it works as a conductor between the two. There are a lot of motorcycle restorers in the past that found out the nice stainless bolts used in the alloy enginehalves were falling out after years because of the threads had corroded out...
First lesson at the first class of the restorers school. Don't put stainless steel near alloy.
Jeroen
Re: Stainless steel head studs.
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2021 8:17 pm
by new to this
try ceramic grease
Re: Stainless steel head studs.
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2021 8:30 pm
by matt of the vivas
Copaslip is not conductive?
Re: Stainless steel head studs.
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2021 8:46 pm
by matt of the vivas
Thanks for the useful replies. And thanks Jeroen for the sarcasm...
I must have missed my "first lesson at car restorer school" then.
Copaslip is not even slightly conductive. It's insulative, that's its purpose. It's anti-seize compound.
I've used stainless bolts in alloy housings for years. Not had an issue. Possibly if you had salt water then it might corrode - but the anti-seize will keep that out of the threads?
I was hoping someone on here might have used the stainless studs and could comment on quality etc - not a load of theory.
As already stated - when I removed the head off mine, most of the problem was the original studs had swollen and corroded. The alloy of the head was not badly damaged. Surely the stainless studs will not corrode, at least avoiding this problem?
Re: Stainless steel head studs.
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2021 8:59 pm
by yorkshire_spam
Sorry Matt, no personal experience of the stainless. I just used standard ones when I needed replacements. (I was exceptionally lucky taking the head off my 1850 and the studs came out and the head off ok)
Re: Stainless steel head studs.
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2021 9:23 pm
by soe8m
matt of the vivas wrote:Copaslip is not conductive?
That will be something intranslation. It conducts electrical current but maybe it's translated different. It's not an isolator between the stainless steel and alloy but will only speed up the corrosive process.
Jeroen
Re: Stainless steel head studs.
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2021 10:17 pm
by TrustNo1
Do they have the same tensile strength?
Re: Stainless steel head studs.
Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2021 9:24 am
by cleverusername
Copper grease is definitely conductive because it has bits of copper in it, which is an excellent conductor.
To be honest I am not sure there is an easy answer to this. Even if stainless didn't galvanically react with aluminum, I would be worried about the tensile strength. You could use grease but would that affect the ability to correctly torque up the head?
I know that the Sprint has less problems with the head seizing on but I am not sure why that is.
Re: Stainless steel head studs.
Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2021 11:27 am
by SprintV8
£72.50 for five studs. Ouch.
Could you change these to bolts Like ARP.
That way they would wind out as being removed.
From the ARP site.
Stainless Steel
Ideally suited for many automotive and marine applications because stainless is tolerant of heat and virtually impervious to rust and corrosion. ARP “Stainless 300” and Custom 450 materials are specially alloyed for extra durability. Both are polished using a proprietary process to produce a beautiful finish. Tensile strength is typically rated at 170,000-190,000 psi
Are you really that worried about taking the head off at a later date.
Re: Stainless steel head studs.
Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2021 2:07 pm
by new to this
matt of the vivas wrote: ↑Sat Nov 20, 2021 8:46 pm
Thanks for the useful replies. And thanks Jeroen for the sarcasm...
I must have missed my "first lesson at car restorer school" then.
Copaslip is not even slightly conductive. It's insulative, that's its purpose. It's anti-seize compound.
I've used stainless bolts in alloy housings for years. Not had an issue. Possibly if you had salt water then it might corrode - but the anti-seize will keep that out of the threads?
I was hoping someone on here might have used the stainless studs and could comment on quality etc - not a load of theory.
As already stated - when I removed the head off mine, most of the problem was the original studs had swollen and corroded. The alloy of the head was not badly damaged. Surely the stainless studs will not corrode, at least avoiding this problem?
These stainless steel head studs,are aircraft grade
Re: Stainless steel head studs.
Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2021 2:11 pm
by new to this
cleverusername wrote: ↑Sun Nov 21, 2021 9:24 am
Copper grease is definitely conductive because it has bits of copper in it, which is an excellent conductor.
To be honest I am not sure there is an easy answer to this. Even if stainless didn't galvanically react with aluminum, I would be worried about the tensile strength. You could use grease but would that affect the ability to correctly torque up the head?
I know that the Sprint has less problems with the head seizing on but I am not sure why that is.
The sprint doesnt have the same problems because the studs are submerged in oil
Dave