KIA/Hyundai 3.3TT Closed Deck 12mm Stud Bare Block Upgrade

We start off with seasoned blocks, ultrasonic cleaned, passages cleared, and mainline checked for any cracks and bore straightness. Then... we get to work. CSS closed deck block, this will stop the tops of the piston bores from pushing apart/opening/tapper. This is the go to standard for open deck blocks. But, we take it one step further by adding 12mm head studs. Yes... that is a 12mm 2.75 inch threaded area inside of the block upgrade. What does this mean? 92 ft lbs of clamping force to 110 ft lbs of clamping force. This is huge, like... next level performance and gasket clamping for your build. We start off with the ARP2000 materials, full face washers for washer pocket clamp load (do not allow yourself to be lied to, this is very, very important in getting the greatest clamp load on the head gaskets), and oversized 12 point nuts. The block is undersize tapped to 12 x 1.5mm, then bottom tapped for a perfect engagement into the bottom of the block. With 2.75 inches of thread engagement inside of the block, there is no need for thread inserts, you simply cannot get better engagement of stud to block interface. Then, we finish off with all brand new main cap/crank cap hardware. This is OEM hardware, with upgraded cross bolts from ARP. Now... why OEM hardware for the main caps but the cross bolts are ARP? What we have found is that the OEM hardware for the two down bolts that hold the caps in place are mandatory torque to yield (still trying to address this, but there is not a better bolt right now for this application). However, we found that the cross bolts (bolts that come from the side of the block into the main caps) tend to loosen their holding torque in higher RPM applications. These bolts are critical for maintaining bearing clearances, and stabilizing the bearing location. For those, we use the ARP standard 12 points and use the same torque to yield ratings of the stock values. This has maintained side bolt torque values on engines revving to 7600 RPM and higher. The finishing step, you must send us your cylinder heads in order to get the head bolt holes drilled for clearance of the 12mm studs. With 20% more cross - sectional area of the 12mm head stud, more engagement in the block, this gives a high area of clamp load, even over the 625 aged 11mm upgrade (you get more thread engagement, less chance of thread pull out and are able to reach the 110-115 ft lbs of toque without any worries of thread pull out. For those of you who want the ultimate build option, we have 12mm 625 aged studs as an option, but these are not cheap. Easily adds $1100 to the build, but... email us if you need this as an option. We do not have a core program at this time, if you want to return your block to us, we will issue a $1000 refund (upon inspection) on the original invoice, or... you can send us your block and heads for a $1000 discount, discount only applies if your core is good/clean and complete. The head stud picture shows the 11mm head stud vs the 12mm head stud. Pay attention to the block threaded area... this is what makes all the difference!