Has anyone had any success drilling out a broken exhaust manifold bolt in the head, and cleaning threads while the head is on the block? The 2.8L engine is out of the car in the cradle for a clutch install.
Has anyone had any success drilling out a broken exhaust manifold bolt in the head, and cleaning threads while the head is on the block? The 2.8L engine is out of the car in the cradle for a clutch install.
Cylinder #2, top bolt.
No success here. Nope. None whatsoever. May as well start off with a double shot of "Jack" and a 38 caliber within arms reach. Had to be one of the most miserable jobs I ever encountered in my life.
Spoon
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No but if you drill them out yourself I suggest a left handed drill. When I had to do one, drilling it was enough to get it loose without having to use an easyout.
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Old rusted bolt stubs are difficult to remove. If the bolt stub is sticking out a bit a steel cross member can be welded to it and it turned out with a slotted socket. If the bolt broke off level with the surface of the block, the only easy way to get that bolt stub out is with a special drill jig and stud remover kit that was origiannly used by the dealer ships. They come up on eBay every now and then. You can try center punching the stub and using a reverse drill bit and an easy out but centering the drill can be difficult.
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Old rusted bolt stubs are difficult to remove. If the bolt stub is sticking out a bit a steel cross member can be welded to it and it turned out with a slotted socket. If the bolt broke off level with the surface of the block, the only easy way to get that bolt stub out is with a special drill jig and stud remover kit that was origiannly used by the dealer ships. They come up on eBay every now and then. You can try center punching the stub and using a reverse drill bit and an easy out but centering the drill can be difficult.
I second this method. I have used it quite a few times. If you can weld a nub with a wire feed onto the end of the broken stud - the heat on the stud expands rapidly and many times will break itself free. I apply a lot of heat by making the nub large enough to grab with a vise grips. let it cool for a minute or two from when the nub is cherry red. Sometimes you will break the nub off - but repeat the process. I used to have a drawer in my toolbox where I kept my prize nubs. When you get that broken stud out it kinda feels like you won something..
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I've succeeded at this everytime I've tried it using a dremel tool and a tile grinding bit from Home Depot that has a cutting surface at the tip of the bit. Grind a depression as close to the center of the remaining bolt as you can, then start with the same size or smaller drill bit and drill all the way through it, stepping up the bit size until you've nearly reached the bore of the threads inside the hole. You can use a small punch or screw driver after that to try and collapse the outer hull of the bolt to help remove it afterwards. Did this on my brothers Buick Nailhead about two months ago to remove a broken water pump bolt.
Welding on an attachment is a good method also but it depends on how bad the bolt is seized in place as to whether it will work.
When you get that broken stud out it kinda feels like you won something..
Ain't that the truth! I found several broken studs when replacing the head gaskets on my daughter's Lumina over the summer. I used the weld-on-an-old-bolt method because luckily all of the broken studs were sticking out at least 1/8". I was careful to put the vise grips right on the weld, not further up on the bolt, and every stud came right out.
1st - Have a machine shop drill it out. Don't mess around with easy-outs etc. If you break one of those it will make it 10x harder to fix as they're high carbon steel 2nd - With the bolt out, there's a lot of meat left that can be drilled into and tapped so you can then use a longer 8mm pitch bolt.
hey man ive done exhaust stud extraction for years at uhaul when i worked in the shop. i did them on 6.8L v10s 460ci big block fords power strokes and my own 2.8 in my fiero. the best way that i have come up with (since the 6.8 v10s are shoe horned in the engine compartment not to mention that they have alum. heads) is if theres any stud sticking out at all like they already mentioned welding a steel bolt to it works but while doing that the head MUST be heated up really good. the head will expand and it will be the the easy way. and i have drilled them when there broken off inside and heated the block up really really good and drilled all the way through with a tiny bit (to get pb blaster in the back of the threads) then use a reverse drill bit and 95% of the time it will back out hope this helps some
I agree about the easy outs.... once you break on off in there the whole meaning of easy out its... well not easy you CANNOT drill one out but left handed bits and a torch will make things a breeze
Slightly related, changing the power steering belt on my little brother's Honda Civic tonight, and just as I'm bolting it all back together, the tension bolt breaks off in the pump body casting. Drilled and drilled and drilled, sharpened the drill bit, and the little bastard isn't going anywhere. All the while the stupid thing keeps bleeding fluid all over me. A new pump is $250, taking it to a machine shop would be $50+, or one of the local junkyards has 4 of them for $35 each. Guess which one I'm doing. Freaking HATE broken bolts.
I just found the exhaust leak on the '86 I just purchased... Cyl no. 5- both bolts already broken by PO. The other 4 came out quite easily. Really don't want to pull the head for 2 bolts. I have an angle drill I can fit up in there but it still won't be fun. I figured it is work a try with a left fluted drill bit. Will I be wasting my time?
I haven't tried it but you can try welding a nut onto a broken stud, even if its flush with the head. Hold the nut up onto the stud and fill it with weld. I can imagine it would be hard to start it but would probably be easier than drilling if you had access to a welder.
If the stud is sticking out enough you can try a stud extractor tool like this one, I only used it once but it worked great:
