Has anyone ever had this arp main stud problem?

[Inabj1]

Im in the middle of a a project, and I just finished assembling an entire sr20det. But I ran into an issue I thought I had fixed.

I went with all new arp studs, including arp main studs. The problem I ran into was the arp stud on the back right side (if looking from the front of the engine.) Was hitting the upper oil pan. It was only that stud giving me the problem. I couldnt screw the stud any more into the block.

So what I did was I took about 1 to 2 mm of material from the upper oil pan (I estimate its about 4 mm thick.) So that it would clear the main stud. And applied rtv gasket. When I put it together, and torqued it down, there was no visible , or detectable gap. So I moved on.

I put fresh oil in there, and when I raised the engine off the stand using an engine hoist. The back end swing down towards the floor, oil started leaking from that spot, at a rate of maybe 1 drip a second to 1 drip every few seconds. It only does this when the engine is in an angle, and not level. I heard from someone that there is no oil pressure from the pan, and only in the squirters and head etc, but not in the pan itself, is this true?

What would you do? Move on and ignore? Sell everything and forget about 240s (i spent over 6-8k thus far). Or tear down and somehow fix? (Im out of ideas at this point.) Please help.

[IanS]

I have heard of people having issues with the ARP studs before, though I have never put a set of the main studs in so I would not know for sure.

It is true that there is no actual oil pressure inside the crankcase, but there will be a small amount of pressure within the crankcase caused by blowby. The PCV, and oil separator systems help to relieve this pressure, but irregardless there will be some excess. If there are any cracks or leaks in the upper pan, oil draining down from the head will be forced out causing an oil leak any time the engine is running.

[redtop91]

Yeah the ARP mains hit the upper pan. You have to clearance it yourself but I don't know if you have to take as much off as you did but I haven't gotten as far as assembling my block though so exact specs I dunno. Don't trash the engine though, at most you'd need a new upper pan.