This is always going to be a "See, I told you so" thing
If you just swap and something happens I can say it, if you just swap and nothing happens you can say it.
If you pull the head and you do find something I can say it, pull the head and find nothing you can say it.

In the end its your engine & your money and your piece of mind
If you're happy I'm happy

But I really think we should stop talking about weak, shitty, bad design "AP1" retainers.
They are kick-ass strong even cracked in half they DO NOT give up instantly, I 'm!

 

ap2 can do the same thing and not crack to begin with !


ill see as time goes on, i might stick some ARP head bolts and exhaust studs on there, if i do that will give me the incentive to check it anyway.

Shoulda done it while i was in there....

well time will tell, ill leave this open to those who wanna read it, i wish billman would chime back in...

 

Why??????

What is wrong with your stock head bolts? trust me, dont use arp studs on an s2k unless you want HG combustion leaks.

 

Bill just said it all. ARP = doesnt work with s2k. Stock head bolts... capable of 1000 hp since 1999.

 

Or not lol, i was told if i ever had to pull my head i would have to replace the bolts and new gasket... ? thats how i did it with my integra... figured it would be easier to find ARP vs OEM but i may not pull it @ all. i dont think i have much to worry about at this point unless there is something i am missing?

 

It's not what your missing, its what your getting from the web that sucks

Leave that head alone until its time to pull it for valve work or whatever. There is definitely NO NEED to do any work on the head gasket or head bolts right now.

And when you do, use a stock head gasket and new stock headbolts. You can safely re-use youer headbolts if you know how to take the critical measuremnets on them.

 

Hey Billman, what do you have to say about the fact that exhaust retainers are cracked? Have you seen this. This can make non-original AP1 owners paranoid again.

 

oh crap....now im paranoid!!!!! in for Master Billman's answer.

 

His cracked exhaust retainers are the first I've seen like that.

I'm wondering if his car suffered a 2-gear over-rev at some point, had bend valves, and was repaired without noticing the cracked retainers.

I still run the dragon every year with original AP1 retainers.

 

Nothing new about that lol, aight intact it stays, so you believe my valves are fine aswell? And im in for info on exhaust side like these other guys. Hell, honda didnt notice either lol. glad i changed em. Also, the only ones you can see recessed are veryyyyy bad. Small cracks wont even recess yet.