Bought ARP head bolts that were suggested from another forum and while comparing parts, I noticed a large difference. From what I know the motor is stock. Wat do?

 

Did you check with ARP to see if they will work with your application? There is a LOT of bad information passed on forums. I had three people post to tell me 2002 manifold would work on my 96 with my stock Y-pipe. I was also told all I needed for a 2002 brake conversion was the rotors and calipers. Both wrong.

As a general rule using longer than stock head bolts is a mistake. If the hole is not tapped deep enough you can crack the block. You have to verify the bolt lenth before you install. Are the stock bolts Torque to yield? If not the you can just check the length.

To check length, screw bolt into the block(5 Ft/lbs max). Measure the distance under the head to the block. Now check the how thick the head is from the face to the flat where the head will go. You need the bolt to be about 1/4" smaller than the head. The bolt needs to be able to stretch about 1/8". If it can not the gasket will fail.

Edit, The bolts should be pretty close to the same length but you need to check all the threaded holes and do you calculation based on most shallow. You should go back to ARP for the final torque as the lengh can effect the required torque.

 

What engine?

Also, while it's a good possibility you bought the wrong head bolts, compare your new ARP bolt to all of the head bolts. Not all head bolts are the same length.

 

Yeah that. The bolt kit you got is supposed to be the correct one. There are three different length bolts, so make sure you're comparing all of them to your old ones. If you didn't make a note of which length bolt came from where, you'll want to look that up: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ar...ions/year/1995

 

You do know that their are 4 shorter head bolts that go on each end of the head. Longer ones in the middle and short ones on the bottom.

 

I did not know there were three different bolts sizes. This is my first time to crack open a motor. Thought there was just the shorter ones by headers then the longer ones by the valves. Emailed ARP today and they said it was good to go. Had I been more observant, I would have noticed the three different sizes. Thank you to everyone for the information.

By the way it's an lt1.