It is for good reason that virtually every top professional enginebuilder relies on ARP Pro Series head studs for their all-out competitionpowerplants. Simply stated, there’s not a better stud setupon the market today.For openers, ARP only uses premium grade 8740 alloy anda proprietary ARP2000® alloy that are rated far superior to “aircraft”quality alloy steels. Secondly, each stud is placed verticallyinto special racks and precisely heat-treated to 190,000 psi forthe 8740 material and 220,000 psi for the ARP2000® material.This procedure ensures complete heat penetration and the resultsare far superior to those lesser quality studs from other manufacturerswho just dump pieces in a basket and hope for the best.Following heat-treat, each stud is centerless ground to makeit as close to perfectly concentric as possible. This procedureinvolves about ten very slight cuts and results in an exceptionallystraight part. It’s important to note that lesser quality studsare not even centerless ground – the material is thread rolled inbar stock form (mostly before heat-treat, when the material iseasier to machine). Because ARP studs are manufactured to suchexacting tolerances, you will note that gaskets and cylinder headsliterally glide into position and are perfectly aligned – somethingthat won’t happen with inferior quality head studs.ARP studs are thread rolled after heat-treat, which gives themabout 2000% (that’s twenty times) better fatigue strength thanthose studs that are threaded prior to heat-treat (a very commonindustry practice). It costs a lot more to do it this way, because it’stough on tooling, but the results are well worth the extra effort.You will also note that ARP offers specially undercut studs forseveral engines. This procedure (done only to the shorter studs)more equalizes the “stretch” of both studs, which makes for amore consistent clamping force – and one that compensates forhead gasket compression when the cylinder heads are installed.This helps prevent blown head gaskets, and assures optimumengine sealing!Premium quality 8740 and ARP2000® head stud kits are availablefor most domestic and import applications. You won’t find abetter quality stud on the market from any other source. Look forARP stamped on each stud as your assurance of quality.Clearly, they are the best on the market today, and the favoriteof leading professional engine builders in all forms of racing.