Hey People!!
Hey Danny, yes, it is gohypermax.... I was tripping there for a minute! The gaskets I used are the '500' gaskets, they are a bolt on deal, no machining an o-ring groove in the head or block required, and they are half the price of the machine type gasket. The '500' gasket it perfect for all street driven hi perf trucks up to 500 hp. (hence the 500 designation) The machine type gaskets are reusable for the drag race and puller guys and are a thousand bucks, plus the machine work, and after doing some serious homework, I feel are not necessary for most shi perf street driven applications. Ben, I happen to be very friendly with everyone at my Ford dealer from the Owner on down, Service Advisors, Techs, Wholesale parts guys.... so I know what to say and do. When my truck kicked the headgaskets out of it I made a paper trail of puking coolant with service visits, I removed all evidence of my SCT, Edge Juice/Attitude, etc. just in case a Ford engineer decided to come snooping around. I left the MBRP exhaust on it, and of course all the other mods, including being on 38's and some serious suspension parts. I sprung for the headgaskets and the studs, all labor and additional parts were supplied to me under warranty. It really pays to be friendly with a service advisor, kick him a 20 so he listens to your concerns without writing ANYTHING about modifications that will show up in an Oasis report, and thoroughly feel the dealer out to see if they are really customer friendly. Above all, never get an attitude.... just today I was wandering around my favorite dealer and happened to be in the service bays and overheard a conversation between the Diesel techs, the service advisor, and two service department managers about a 'problem' customer who just badmouths everyone and everything, and he didn't do a very good job of hiding his tuning mods. This very same dealer that did me so right, was reluctant to pursue replacing an EGR cooler, and possibly headgaskets, because of the modifications. It really pays to be cool to people.

Tim

p.s. my truck is running so good (knocking on wood at this moment!!) with the SCT stacked with the Juice/Attitude on 3, load the converter just a little, let off the brake and hammer the throttle, and it smokes the 38's like a big block Chevrolet roasting little 15" street radials!!

 

By the way the headgaskets Max is doing up are really beautiful, they fit perfectly, and with the studs in place to hold the gasket and combustion ring in place, they are really easy to install/align/torque with no worries about the ring and/or gasket slipping out of place. Just a little side note: ARP adamantly denies any change in their 6.0l stud since their inception. When first released, they were touted as 8740 and simply stated 'arp' on the head of the stud, and were available for around $380.00 Subsequent sets I received, after the price had increased to around $530.00 say they are manufactured from ARP 2000 material, and actually say it on the head of the stud. I compared the two studs side by side, and they do appear slightly different. I had heard of broken early released studs, and maybe (for you conspiracy theorists!!) arp didn't not want to widely admit to a design/material change. By the way I torqued my studs to 235 lbs.

Tim

 

Thanks Tim for your help. I just got my ARP's and Hypermax's yesterday, they look nice. I was going over everything and found out that ARP want's these tourqed at 245, MAN that seems high! hope the Block holds... Anyways, just woundering what the tourqe sequence is used, as ford has a diferant pattern with the tourqe to yeild bolts. that just don't work with these head studs. any help please? thanks.. Dan.

 

Hey Dan...
If you follow the factory IH/FoMoCo torque sequence, and torque three trips around (80/160/235) I think you will be good. I have seen several sets getting torqued, and believe it or not, that extra torque up to 245 seems like it takes forever. I have a friend with them torqued to 225 and all is well also. My diesel tech at the dealer used my Snap-On 250 lb. 1/2 inch drive torque wrench (just calibrated) because I was afraid to let another torque wrench touch my truck..... let me know if you have any ???

Tim

 

Thanks again Tim, This is exactly how I was thinking, but it was nice to hear someone else thinking on the same lines. I also think that I have the EGR problem cured for the final time, Just got it back from the weld shop and it looks great. Can't wait till I get some time to install. Thanks again, Dan.

 

Hey Dan...
I have modified several y pipes for 'off-road' use only... and with an SCT or similar programmer, no 'low flow' ( I believe it is p0602) will be thrown.

Tim

 

I know. I'm welding plugs in the EGR cooler that will not let the exhaust to pass through and if it leaks coolant inside it will just fill up and not go anywhere. I think that this is the best fix for this problem and I'm going to find out. I think in the next 2 weeks I'm gonna get started removing this engine an fix it right like IH should have from the begining>

 

How are you welding your plugs in? I have been thinking about this for quite a while now.

 

If you take 1 3/8 cup plugs (1.375) you can plug both ends of the EGR cooler. Early
('03) and late ('04>>) use different coolers but have the same I.D. where the plugs go.
I find that cutting the EGR tube from the 'Y' pipe, just above the welds, and fabricating a couple of caps to cap off the open end of the 'Y' pipe, and and the open end of the flange that attaches to the EGR cooler, to be used as a plug, it is very clean, cannot be seen, and you don't have to worry about melting the solder in the cooler should you decide to weld the plugs in the cooler.

Tim

 

SoCal, do you have any pictures of this. I personally haven't taken apart my exhaust system to look at the y pipe. Any thoughts of selling a pre-config y pipe assy?

 

Hey Rotormech...
The y-pipe comes in three pieces and is quite costly, so it is much better to do your own. I get a smoking deal from my FoMoCo dealer, and I still couldn't justify buying an extra for a core to modify. I do have some pics, but the last time I tried to upload some pics to a gallery for my truck, it didn't work. I will work on that, or if you would like to PM me with your email address I will send you the pics via email.

Tim

 

Sounds like it will work, but one of my concerns was that if i brake down out of town, Like the flex joint cracks on the y pipe or something, I would like to be able to go to the dealer to get if fixed without haveing to get it modified. and also with the cooler plugged on both ends, If it leaks on the inside, it can't go anywhere so it should be all set. I'm pulling my engine this weekend to install gaskets, studs, and modified cooler. I will let you know how it goes.

 

Wow those studs require a lot of torque. 245? I mean wow! I don't even think you could torque that down unless the engine was pulled. You'd need a long bar, and I don't think that would fit. Plus, correct me if I'm wrong, you have to at least raise the cab to put the heads on with studs. Thats why I didn't get studs. Also was told that they were unecessary and that the factory bolts hold together just fine. Which by the way get torqued to 115lbs. I thought that was alot
Tim

 

Great info guys, I am a new PSD owner and I want to do some add ons. Sounds like having a blown head gasket early can be a blessing, just get the dealer to install the studs and better gasket! Gofast66 I would like to hear all about your DIY project, hope it works out for you!

 

Hiflyer... in my opinion every truck needs the cab off to do headgasket replacement. Once the cab is off it is basically an engine stand, doing the gaskets without pulling the cab, even for a good tech, is more labor intensive than yanking the cab. What a pain in the a$$ it is to lean over the fenders and core support with a cast iron anchor (cylinder head) in your hands, and that is after removal of all the external components. I have seen two trucks apart w/o cab removal, and close to twenty (including my own) with cab removal, and if I was a FoMoCo/Navistar tech, I would definitely be pulling cabs. The aftermarket studs may not be a necessity, depending on how you use the truck, but in my case I feel that they were, along with a different (aftermarket) gasket. I do not want a repeat of the problem, and I have seen more than one truck with the 'updated' factory gasket and a fresh set of TTY bolts lose a gasket a second time. BTW, whoever told you the torque on a factory bolt is 115 lbs. has been misled. The correct torque is: top row, 85 lbs. initial, bottom row, 65 lbs. initial, then three times through the torque sequence with a 90 degree turn on each bolt, each trip through the sequence. I would venture to say the arc in the 3 foot Snap-On 3/4 drive breaker bar on the last pull is indicative of more than 115 lbs. of torque. It definitely feels/appears like more effort than torquing the stud/nut arrangement to 235/245 with a Snap-On 1/2 drive torque wrench.

have a great day!

Tim