Small Block & Big Block Chevy Specific - Stuck Heads?

Pulled my 360ci SBC from my boat this morning and started tearing it down. Everything went fine as usual until I got to the heads. Removed the 12 pt ARP nuts and washers and started my normal routine to get the head off the block but to no avail. I have ARP headstuds. It seems the studs have seized around the head on the lower boltholes but not the ones under the valvecover. I've used propane to heat the studs and try to get them to spin. This resulted in all but 3 turning freely. I'm very leary of prying as they are good condition AFR 195 aluminum heads. I've never run into anything like this before and am at a loss. Tomorrow i'm going to try acetylene heat on the block where the studs screw into and see if I can get the last ones to spin.

Anyone else ever run into this problem? The motor was built in July 1997 and being that it's in a freshwater marine enviroment it probably makes things much worse for corrosion.

Have you tried removing the stud by putting two thin profile nuts on it, jamming them together, and then turning the bottom nut? Doesn't sound quite right does it? :jest: Anyway, it works because i've done this for 30+year old fan clutch studs.

You know I went for that route but the only fine thread nuts I had that would fit were too large and i could not get a good bite on it. There's also not much room to work with the holes being there close to the head.

Thanks for the idea on the smaller profile nuts. I'll give the local places a shout in the morning.

Your head stud nuts will work. Flip a nut over with a 12 point wrench over the stud. Screw the nut down until you have to engage the wrench and the screw another stud nut down on top. Tighten the two together and loosen the stud.
I know this works because like an idiot I had to remove all 34 studs and put sealer on them because I had a water leak. Never, ever install head studs on a SBC without sealer.

I would just lift on the head via the end water jacket holes. She'll come loose. I know you're not an idiot but make sure the end nuts are off. They sit down in the oil drainback area and are easy to miss, especially if there's oil in there.

The new ARP studs are broached for an allen key thank God.

You know I went for that route but the only fine thread nuts I had that would fit were too large and i could not get a good bite on it. There's also not much room to work with the holes being there close to the head.

Thanks for the idea on the smaller profile nuts. I'll give the local places a shout in the morning.
I've actually had to use an engine hoist to pull stuck heads. Especially marine applications, due to the lake, or worse, ocean water circulating through the engine.

Success was achieved this afternoon, only with the help of a torch. Galvanic corrosion from the metal in the aluminum headholes over 10 years was pretty nasty. I had to get the stud ends red hot and then hammer a 10mm impact socket onto the end of the stud. Then went to work with my Ingersoll Rand impact gun to get them out. To give you an idea how seized they were I twisted in half one headstud with the impact gun. Luckily it was the last one and I was able to get the head off.

To anyone who uses headstuds with aluminum heads for long time periods use liberal amounts of antiseize in the head bolt holes and also on the non threaded portion of the headstud to keep this from happening.