[A Snake]

that will work and you won't have to pull the heads. Just keep the metal out of the rest of the engine when you install.

If those studs pulled out, it sounds like one of two things happened. Either they got over torqued or, they may not have had enough thread in the head. Watch when you do the redo, that you get enough depth (without hitting water) that the depth is more than equal to the diameter of the bolt. i.e. if the bolt is 3/8, you need more than 3/8 depth. If it were me, I'd like to see at least 7/16 depth.

My Dove heads and rockers were done by my builder, so I don't know how deep the studs were drilled. they didn't pull out so they must have been deep enough.

What I just told you about depth comes from industrial experience, not Dove heads.

Al