I have to get intake and head bolts, and figured that I might as well replace all of the bolts on my motor and am wondering what the advantage of stainless steel bolts are over regular bolts? Is the extra $$ for the stainless bolts worth the extra cost? Do stainless bolts need to be retorqued from time to time?
I would not do that on head bolts. Generally stainless is not for high strength applications although ARP does make some special stainless pieces that are grade 8 or better.
Oh, not for the head bolts, I found them at Summit (ARP bolts) for $70, but wasn't sure for the intake and some of the others. I just wasn't sure if the stainless was used for looks or if there was another reason to use them. I looked at ARP's site and it looks like stainless is used around places where corrosion is a problem. I'll probably get them for the intake and water pump area, I don;t need any corrosion issues and I like the way they look.
I would use stainless for the timing cover because of galvanic corrosion. I would also suggest them for exhaust manifolds. No need to use them on the intake.
