If it aint one thing it's another

Another setback (seems like i've had alot of those lately.. ah the joys of restoring a 30 yr old car ). Tried to take my Exhaust Manifold off so I could fix the choke heat riser tube I figured it would be easier out of the car so I'd have more freedom to work. But that all came to an abrupt end when one of the manifold bolts snapped! Went to loosen it and the head just busted right off I did not turn it the wrong way or anything :confused:. 90% of the bolt is still in there and now without the head or any part of it sticking out I have no way to remove it, guess I better buy that drill I saw at Harbor Freight. It looks as though I will have to try and repair the choke heat riser tube with it in the car it'll be frustrating hope I don't throw to many tools . I'm curious has anybody ever had this happen to them??

 

From experience i can tell you that exaust manifolds are a bitch !!

Before you drill it out try heating it up with a torch and use an "ez out" to back the broken bolt ...

 

That's not a bad idea. Sears makes a screw extractor set that's supposed to be the best made. It's certainly worth a try and would be less traumatic to the heads than having to drill and tap. Good luck, my friend.

 

Yes, heat the bolts up first..it breaks up the rust and expands the metal so they come right out. I have been fortunate to never have trouble with exhaust manifold bolts....yet...

 

Yeah Joe, I snapped a manifold bolt on my 71 Grabber when I decided I was going to keep it running shortly after I got it -- bad exhaust leak. I decided to forget about keeping it running after that.

 

Having experience working in an exhaust shop for 5 years, My advice is to heat it first then try removing. If it breaks flush you can weld (if you are good) to the broken bolt build up a knub and then weld another bolt to that knub. Reapply heat and pull it out. If you do have to weld to it I always put some grease around the area so as not to weld to the head itself. Trust me I have never failed to get a broken bolt out in this manner. I have never had to drill one out yet takes to long

 

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If 90% of the bolt is still there, I would unbolt the motor mounts, loosen the tranny mount and jack the motor up. Take out, carefully the other bolts and slide the manifold off of the bolt with the broken head. Vise grips should get you home from there.
All of this is assuming your statement is accurate that 90% of the bolt is left in the manifold.



Seth

 

a quick and easy fix could be to go buy some liquid wrench and some pliers (cant remember how to spell it). Spray it with some liquid wrench and pull and turn. Usually its enough to break it loose.

 

What the heck is ez out?? never heard of it, and yes 90% of the bolt is there still inside the hole the head and about 10% of the threaded stud broke off if I stuck a screwdriver in there i'd say it would go in about 1/8th of an inch before contacting whats left of the bolt. Unfortunatley i'm not that good with welding as I have never done it my luck I would end up welding a bolt to the manifold. The manifold is still functional I mean I wasn't replacing it or anything just wanted more working room to fix the heat riser tube. I'll end up getting some JB Weld and trying to connect the Choke Tube to the Manifold I got it almost on there last night stretched open the end a little bit with my needle nose pliers but there are air gaps and I figure the JB Weld outta seal those gaps. This disadvantage to this is I will be stuck with a Carter 1bbl Carb (I was kinda hopin to change to a Holly or Edelbrock 2bbl) any other Carb and I would play hell with that tube getting it to connect without breaking it off again. As for what will eventually happen to the Manifold I dunno I may attempt to get that bolt out one of these days but I still plan on a V8 Upgrade eventually.

 

JUST TODAY!!! mine started out with a leaking freeze plug in the head. the one in the back (6 cyl). i stuck a screw driver in it to locate it and it went throught. after about three (3) hours i had the old plug out. went to put the new plug in and couldn't get it for the exh. man. so i went to take it off and broke a bolt. thought i would take it off to fix that and i now have eight (8) bolts broken off in the head. pulled the head and went to a machine shop to get it fixed. the est. was $25.00 per bolt ($200), plus the valve job and decking. went to another place that messed up a head once before and he said he would make it right, valve job and all for ($120). i pick the head up tomorrow. will let you know how it turns out...been there and done that...frank...

 

Guess Exhaust Manifold bolts are tricky suckers appears I need to be more cautious with the Torque Wrench thanx for the idea 71Gold I never thought about the Machine Shop guess I was too pissed to think about it .Shouldn't cost me much as only one bolt is broken the others came out without too big a problem minus the lack of clearence underneath and the damn socket not wanting to grab the bolt. I ended up putting them all back in though so I could put everything back together and have the car mobile again. I've given serious consideration to pulling the head and having the valves redone anyway so this might give me a little added incentive but lack of $$$$ has prevented this thus far.

 

I would not use an EZ out on an exhaust bolt. As rusted as that bolt is, you will just snap off the EZ out in the hole and you will be in much worse shape than you are now. Heat is the only way to remove frozen bolts. Also after you get it out, get some antiseize compound and coat all the threads before you put the bolts back in.

 

after 30 years the bolts are a b***h. in the owners manual it should say ..at 3000 miles change oil and ex. man. bolts. i had one that where the gasket was blown the heat cut the bolt almost in half. good luck....frank...

 

well if eight (8) broken bolts aint enought, how about this? they checked the head today and it was cracked in the middle of 3 and 4 ex. port. got my spare head and it had an ear broken off. got my spare, spare (170) head and it was good. that is the one we will rebuild... that one little leaking freeze plug... maybe i should have put a can of stop leak in it to start with....frank...

 

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So if there is no head on the bolt, how would you take it out without EZ outs? Would you just take the other bolts out and pull the head off, then heat and remove with vice grips?