Ok, since I'll be swapping studs #4 and 5 of this year (meaning I average one a month) on this ******* FM set up... I wanted to see who swaps studs, and what they do.

My issue is the studs I put in back out if I don't tighten the hell out of them.
If I do tighten the hell out of them, they break off.

I'm going to try wiring the next set in, wire the nut and the stud.

But I've heard of people putting in larger, American sized studs. What size? How do you do it? Any other advice? Is wiring a bad/good idea?

Plus, I have a friend who's a blacksmith, and he's going to forge me a custom wrench - how cool is that?

 

m8 studs? enough room on flange to tap out to m10?

 

M10x1.5 studs are what BEGI is using in their manifolds now, they seem to solve everyones issues.

 

Yeah, I'm running M10x1.5 and haven't had too many troubles. I just bought a 3' stick of 316SS all thread and cut my own studs.

 

you dont need to pre-tighten studs. that's not how they work. hand tight, bottomed out is plenty.

i wish I could give away my secret as to why mine have never ever ever never come loose, but I can't. hand tight with audi-style turbo locknuts (deformed, copper color) and that's it.

do you run gaskets or something?

I even put anti-seize on mine. how's that for your luck.

 

Here I am

 

i need to replace 2 of mine... will probably do all 4 along with new nuts and Nordlock washers. On top of that, i'll probably safety wire them too. At the moment, i just have to randomly tighten the 2 closest to the firewall :(

 

you beat me to it...

Y8S-elaborate, maybe pics please?
I saw some alloy audi studs at my friends home-shop and plan on using some like that.

 

Take your turbine housing off, and take it to a local machine shop to be re-drilled/tapped for M10... or send it to Corky. I had mad loosening issues with the studs on my DP. I tried Nordlocks and they've worked fine for about 6 months. If they back out again, I'll just tighen'em up... but I'll never have another turbo that doesn't use M10 on both flanges.

 

I had to do it guys..

Anyway, I have not had a problem with my DP studs.

I have with my waste gate studs and that fukken sucked due to its location.
I have a mostly series 5 kits.

 

Yeah - I guess that M10 is the way to go. Too bad, I'll have to wait on the custom wrench then.

Things are SO tight in there, do you mill out any more access to the nuts?

Also, my studs don't really bottom. I've retapped so many times.....

 

If you ran a T3 you would have all the room you ever wanted

 

i've never had this problem on any car, i use rustlocker. but maybe try doubling up on the nuts

 

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...ywirekits1.php

that'll work, it's what Brad ultimately ended up doing.

 

Can you use bolts? My studs were backing out all the time, I put nordlocks and they still came loose. I put in bolts with the nordlocks and no problems. They are actually pretty hard to get loose.

I still don't know why I went with studs to begin with? They were annoying to screw in and have to put the nut on top. The bolts just fit in, spin and hold.

 

My original thought was to slit the sides of the turbo, to allow bolts to come in. I still sort of like the idea, but I imagine it will do bad things to the structural integretiy of the turbo.

Speaking of risking integrity.... Can I mill out any of the turbo to make it easier to get a wrench on it? What size nuts do you use when you go to M10 studs? I keep thinking removing 5 cubic mm of material would give me 30 degrees more swing with my wrench.

Anyone have any pics of this conversion? I'd love to see how things look.

Also, why can't you do it yourself? Drilling and tapping is not that big a deal, and there are already guide holes there! Maybe this time I won't tap all the way through...
-Abe.

 

Where's a good spot to get studs from, McMaster? Any size suggestions?

I still like the idea of opening up around the nuts a bit to make installation easier.... Has anyone done this?

 

I have 1 on my dp that a problem. It pisses me off so much I want to drive to TX and have BEGI take that one fukken bolt off.
Its the bottom one under the DP going into the turbo..

I wish I had a way to make more room to work with it..

 

If it's the one I think, my friend is going to make me a wrench just for it. :-) I keep that stud pretty short, too. Anyway, I ordered me a bunch of studs, a variety of nuts, some NordLock washers, jesus, I spent way too much on it, but I'll be glad to have it done. I would have bought a tap but a friend claims to have one up to the task.