I'm thinking about replacing the head studs for now and build a second motor to go past 600 wheel. Has any one install head studs and had no leaks after? 03 350z vq35de

 

If your doing head studs mise well pull heads and put in new head gaskets, why risk it?

 

It is possible to do however not really ideal.

If you do go that route I recommend pulling all the spark plugs out and cranking the engine over incase any water seeps in.

 

I don't mind replacing the gaskets but I don't have time to send out the heads for the machine shop. Has any one used felpro permanent torque MLS gaskets on are motors? I used them a lot on dsm's and they would take 20 psi no problem.

 

^^^ These.

Problem with doing a "head-on" bolt/stud replacement is you're un-torquing the head bolts and even doing it one at a time, you're not likely to get the proper torque readings on a de-compressed then re-compressed head gasket if you don't release torque on all, then re-torque in proper sequence.

So as stated above, if you've gone that far, why stop on the last lap?

Caveat: It may work on a VQ OK, I can't say for sure; but I've seen enough finicky gasket (all kinds, not just head gaskets) kludges on customer engines back in the day to say, "don't risk it".