Is it really worth the difference in price?

I am looking at LR original stretch bolts of which a full set will cost about £65.

If my head gasket fails again I will scrap the car so the reuse issue isnt a problem for me.

The ARP's which I hadnt even heard of until mentioned on my Head Gasket thread are from what I can find about £140 with Rimmer Bros. I have seen a set on ebay for £110 but it mentions that they are RPI-Partsrange ( is this the same RPI company I was told to avoid )?
I might be tempted at about £100 as they seem easier to fit.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rover-V8-ARP-Mains-Stud-Kit-Engine-MG-TVR-Kitcar-MGB-Morgan-V8-Land-Rover-/152183253177?hash=item236ed428b9Ⓜ️manrA8DhRlwcuOv1iYrmdLw

That one linked to is for the Main Bearing caps on the crankshaft, not the head studs...

Regal's Motorsport on eBay do the head studs - but the 'actual' Rover V8 ones for 10 bolt heads are:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ARP-Rover-3-9L-4-6L-V8-w-10-bolt-heads-head-stud-kit-Part-No-157-4301/311635036603?

Or the 'buick' version for the older 14 bolt heads (you just don't use the shorter ones on the 10 bolt heads... is:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ARP-Buick-215c-i-d-Rover-V8-head-stud-kit-Part-No-124-4003/311635018680?

And are actually cheaper than the kit for the Rover V8... except they have more studs in the kit aswell.... go figure..

EDIT - Just searched about the head stud kits - apparently the later one has slightly longer studs (the 20 bolt kit) which is designed for the later Rover blocks. I've also found that available at Rimmer Bros for £138:
http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-RB7680__20

I missed that in my link, must read more carefully.
So still cheaper at Rimmer Bro's though. I think I will stick with the original LR stretch bolts, I cant justify the cost .

http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-GRID009546

riddlemethis wrote:

I missed that in my link, must read more carefully.
So still cheaper at Rimmer Bro's though. I think I will stick with the original LR stretch bolts, I cant justify the cost .

http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-GRID009546

I agree with you, after all it's just a bit of studding made from titanium, never had any problems using £10 stretch bolts from island4x4

They ain't Titanium, they're steel. They have the course UNC thread on one end to go into the block and a much finer thread and a hex hole on the other end so you can screw them into the block. The finer thread means there's much more control on the tension. That and the fact you only need to torque them down to 65-70 ft/lbs means you don't need a scaffold pole on the end of the socket to do them up!. For ease of use alone, I wouldn't use stretch bolts ever again.

Richard, Are the stretch bolts in that case as tough to torque as they are to undo then ?

It depends who made them. My worry is that even genuine Land Rover ones may not be made to the same spec as the 15 year originals. I've used stretch bolts on other things in the past and you can feel when they start to stretch as they suddenly become easier to turn (and if they were never intended to stretch, that's just before they break). The only time I've used the stretch bolts on a V8 head, that didn't happen, I was just hanging on a long bar to manage the second 90 degrees. When the thread is going into the aluminium block, I was concerned I was going to pull the thread out. I was also advised against getting the cheap ones as they were described as being made of chocolate and would snap off half the time. That suggests that the cheap ones are too soft and stretch (or break) too easily and the decent ones I got are too hard and don't stretch enough.

Gilbertd wrote:

They ain't Titanium, they're steel. They have the course UNC thread on one end to go into the block and a much finer thread and a hex hole on the other end so you can screw them into the block. The finer thread means there's much more control on the tension. That and the fact you only need to torque them down to 65-70 ft/lbs means you don't need a scaffold pole on the end of the socket to do them up!. For ease of use alone, I wouldn't use stretch bolts ever again.

I'm only going on what I was reading last night re arp studs, and it said they were titanium, slap on the hands for believing what I read, lol.. I've actually used stretch bolts on the first 4.6 I had and torqued them down to 70lb, I just presumed that was the torque, worked ok surprisingly enough,, was thinking old school and didn't read up on stretch bolts,,,

Fudge and fiddlesticks then.
With the hassle I had getting them off, I would probably have the same putting them on.

I really dont want to spend £140 but it looks like If I want to get the job finished without other set backs than Im gonna have to spend more.

Ive probably spent near £1200 on this car this year and thats doing the work myself plus another £200 on tools. My French MOT is in November and I know its gonna need the back end of the exhaust changing.
Why oh why oh why do we keep going on these notorious for breaking down cars.lol.

I know what you mean about spending, I renewed everything on my front end, just bought a short engine after finding my block is twisted, I'm wondering what's next, gotta luv ya p38

Thats the problem Chris, we spend so much doing one repair that when the others come along we feel compounded to get our money's worth .

Just reading your car history, cant believe youve had 14 RR, that really is an addiction to pain and suffering .lol.

riddlemethis wrote:

I really dont want to spend £140

But you're not. You're only spending an additional £75 over what you would have paid for bolts. The same as you had to spend on sockets to get the old ones out.......

Wait till you need to spend £1200 on a couple of common rail diesel injectors... I'd have a fully built V8 on the way for less than the cost of a full set!

Exactly Richard, Its just more and more expense I hadnt anticipated.

I think this Head Gasket job would have cost me about £600 excluding the tools although living in France has probably been the cause of it being so much.Not to mention the already replaced radiator, water pump etc before attempting the H/G.

Sorry for being grumpy but Its hard for me to be positive right now especially as I dont even know if its all going to start and cure all.

I wonder if the result of torqueing a head also depends on the quality of the gasket. I've had a few Classics and now this 4.6 and always limit the last stage to 45º, in fear of snapping them.
I do want good composite gaskets though and never had any problems.

Found them another £18 cheaper than Rimmers...

http://www.v8tuner.co.uk/product.php?id=810

£122.22 including VAT... Now it's only £60ish more than head bolts...

Assuming they ship to France that is...

I know what you mean about always end up spending more - but then I am sure that as much as we might grumble at continuously spending out on our P38's - I am sure that there are plenty of other marques that are just as expensive to run/maintain - and then we are in the position where most P38 enthusiasts (or nutters) are generally happy to do the work ourselves, and thus saving a load of money in labour costs...

The neighbour of my relatives where I lived when I first got the RR saw me doing the brakes on the RR and made some comment about how much that must cost me to do, given it's a Range Rover - and his BMW had new brakes lately and it was about £450 including fitting... He nearly fell over when I said the new brakes and discs for all 4 corners was £150...

Thanks for looking Marty.

Appreciate your post.

I am certainly thankful that there are a lot of ( nutters ) trying to help each other on here.
Ive learnt a lot over the years and I certainly wouldn't of attempted a H/G job in the past.

riddlemethis wrote:

Thats the problem Chris, we spend so much doing one repair that when the others come along we feel compounded to get our money's worth .

Just reading your car history, cant believe youve had 14 RR, that really is an addiction to pain and suffering .lol.

Remember my first, a 71 classic 2 door, no power steering, clutch you needed 2 feet to push, couldn't pass a petrol station,, being 6'4 I find they suit me,, did look at RRS and l322 , but still stuck with p38,, I must be a sucker for punishment 😀

No problem...

It's sort of a double-reasoned search... I have a block in bits at the moment which I'm going to rebuild for one of my project P38's - so looking around for head studs and things like that will be useful for me aswell when I get to that point of the rebuild... then once the GEMS one is done, there will be a couple of other subsequent rebuilds to do (I have a second project P38 which is a Thor model... the engine from which will come out and be rebuilt, put in my '01 - which the engine will then be rebuilt and put back into the project/restoration vehicle)

So finding suppliers which are reasonable in price for the parts I need will be valuable in the long run... I don't want to skimp and buy crappy parts, but at the same time, saving £20 a time, over 3 engines soon adds up - the way I see it, is that pays for a new OEM water pump for example!

I wouldn't have attempted anything engine related in the past either - but since being on the forums and talking to others who have done it, it's given me the confidence to get stuck in! Just need to get hold of places to get the block top hatted, and then I can make a start on putting it all together!

Hope the reassembly on yours goes a lot smoother than the tear down!!

Cheers Marty.

I assume you have plenty of work space to be doing those projects.

I unfortunately only have a public footpath , not that footpaths here in France are meant for walking on. Almost every car is parked on them and if they cant find one to park on then they will park it anywhere else they can block the traffic or public from walking by.