I have a 4 flute thats 5 3/4 long that you can borrow if you can't find one closer. I think MSC sells the them IIRC. There site is www.mscdirect.com. I hope this helps.
Joe

 

Is it a bottom tap?

 

In a pinch you could take a grinder to a old head bolt and grind a couple of flutes in it.

 

Yes its a bottom tap. Well it was a plug tap but I had a cutter grinder at work make it a bottom tap thats why it is not 6" long. I will be glad to mail it to you Monday, but it will take a few days to get to you from Pa to Tx. Just let me know.
Joe

 

I couldn't make it to the shop, my little one is pretty sick. sounds like cyric has you covered though.

 

I did not need a bottoming tap on my 1998.5.This was because I could not find one. The standard plug taper extension tap will get the studs deep enough so that only 1 or 2 threads will extend above the 12 point nuts. I was able to get about another ¼“ of stud engagement using the plug taper tap. People that do not tap have problems with the two front most studs hitting the valve cover.

If you have the head off the 6” extension tap should work. I left the head on and changed them one at a time but the 6” tap was too short. I ended up machining a grade 8 bolt to accept the tap and give me 2 more inches. The studs near the firewall are the most fun.

 

Funny you mention the stud height above the nut. I bottomed tapped the one I installed and threaded it in and there is 1/4" or so of the stud sticking out above the top of the nut. I dunno if my buddy gave me one for the exhaust or what. I threaded the tap down all the way till it wouldn't thread anymore.

 

Blue, you want to be looking for pulley taps. These are generally around 6-8 inches long and come in all sizes.(american and metric)

 

BigBlue, if you are using ARP head studs, there are 6 long ones that go on the exhaust side. All the other studs are about ¼” shorter.

 

Yeah. I'm thinking he handed me the wrong one. I'll check it later this week.

 

ABSOLUTELY!
Especially if you (re)use factory head bolts the holes should be cleaned with a tap. The high cylinder pressure of a diesel pushes a lot of soot down those holes. Proper thread engagement is the goal

 

you can tap them if you want, but I don't see how you get cylinder pressure and soot in the bolt hole? Is your gasket blown? I thought they just tapped them to ingauge the stud farther in the hole. I could screw my studs in with my fingers, so theres not much trash in them

 

They tap them to engage them further in the hole and to get that much more surface area to clamp down on them.

 

SO I've never studded a head before, but I will in the near future.

At work on the drilling rigs the mud pump fluid end modules are all studded to the pump houseing. now the studs are about 2 foot long and 1 1/2" in Dia. the base holes are tapped fully and 1 stainless steel ball bearing is inserted in to the base of the hole held with a spot of grease. Then the stud can be tightened without fear of the threads galling at the very bottom of the hole. and possibly pulling ALL the threads out if you ever remove the stud. These clamping nuts torque to 1800 ftlbs. obviously a different scale but I like the idea.

 

The only reason that you would need to tap the block is to acheive more clamping force?

This dosnt add up here. because your going to torque it down to 122 weather its a 1 1/4 inch in the block or 1 1/2 inch in the block. 122 ft lbs is 122 ft lbs any way you go about it. All your worried about is pulling the threads out of the block. And i just dont see that happening. This is the reason that i didnt bottom tap mine, and ive herd from (including the guy that i bought them off of) a couple guys (which have very hot trucks themselves) said it wasnt necessary. But its your call