Broken manifold stud in head

-
Patrick

Patrick

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2006
Messages
305
Reaction score
6
Location
Olney, MD
Tried to remove it with a bolt extractor and of course the extractor snapped - so i now i have 2 broken pieces in the head. :cry:

Bought a carbide bit but it doesn't even touch the hardened extractor - but i did have some luck grinding it down a bit with some abrasive bits that came with my dremel tool. So here's my question: do I continue to grind it down with abrasive bits or should i try a titanium drill bit? Can anyone recommend an abrasive type that can do the work?

Engine is assembled but out of the car so i can get to the hole easily.

thanks for the suggestions
 
Which engine? If it's a slant, no worries. Burn the mess out with a cutting torch deep enough for a 1/2" long plug. Drill and tap for the plug and put it in with Loctite until it is flush with the surface. Then drill and tap the center of the plug for the new stud. You will be into water so make sure everything gets some thread sealer. Crude, but it works.
 
grump-
It's a 318 - sorry i didn't specify - didn't realize it would be different. Do you recommend this approach for the 318 too?
 
Best thing to do if possible is to load the engine up and take it to the machine shop and let them get it out !if that option is possible,because they have the knowledge and tools and are going to save you time and headache. Personally a titanium bit is usually only coated on a bit and is going to be eaten up by the extractor hardness real fast.
You may be able to use a diamond bit if you can locate some, but if you are making progress with the dremmell tool keep at it until you get it out that way. They make some longer carbide tools for the dremmell tools to get farther down in the hole but you have to be careful of breaking them off also if they hang out too far due to not being able to keep them real stable. You can also take a hardend small diameter punch and try to break the hardened extractor off in smaller pieces also and just keep picking away.
You may also have to go to the next size larger stud also when finished due to the slight damage you will do and being off center. I say it is best to get it to the machine shop,those things are pretty easy to remedy when you have the proper tools to do it with.
 
one trick i learned from my old autoshop teacher was to heat the area up with a torch then put a candle up to it so it melts the wax into it. then go ahead and use your extractor on the stud. works really well.
 
You can also take a 1/2 nut and position it centered over the broken stud crap. Take an arc welder with 6011 rod turned up just a little hot so you are sure to get the arc. Ram the rod into the nut and pool it up to the top. Let it cool.... the weld may barely stick to the head but only barely and the heat from the weld loosens the stud and usually sticks really well to the stud and or tap. It may only pull the tap part first try but hit it again with another nut and it usually works. I saved many a turbo compressor housing this way....
oh yeah and the water pump housing on my 3.3 litre Intrepid!

Belden
 
mguner said:
You can also take a 1/2 nut and position it centered over the broken stud crap. Take an arc welder with 6011 rod turned up just a little hot so you are sure to get the arc. Ram the rod into the nut and pool it up to the top. Let it cool.... the weld may barely stick to the head but only barely and the heat from the weld loosens the stud and usually sticks really well to the stud and or tap. It may only pull the tap part first try but hit it again with another nut and it usually works. I saved many a turbo compressor housing this way....
oh yeah and the water pump housing on my 3.3 litre Intrepid!

Belden
Click to expand...

man do this ant take a few pics ,sounds cool
 
were you using a craftsman extractor? they are junk, too brittle and break way to easy

I use to break them off all the time and then Dad would use a punch and get it out then use his extractors from work and back thew broken bolt/stud out every time

Now that dad is gone I have to be more carefull not to break them off ............LOL but I do have his extractors now


I would also recommend taking it to a machine shop, save the time and aggervation and not damage the head beyond repair.
 
Use a torch to turn the extracter cherry red which removes hardness (aneils) the material. I like to use an over size drill (3/8') piloted by the manifold) and remove just a tiny bit of the head just to be sure I'm on center of the broken bolt. Irrelevent since you already drilled the bolt. A 1/4 " drill bit and a 5/16 tap and good luck.
 
here are a couple bits of information ....' I never use the tapered easy outs...they tend to spread the bolt at the top ,locking it in even tighter. snap on tools ( and others too ) make easyouts that are straight. come with a special drill bit the right size and a "socket that fits the outside of the extractor..
a left handed drill bit or reverse direction cutting bit will alot of times actually spin the broken piece out while drilling it,
no matter which style of extractor you use ..you must drill all the way through the broken bolt before you try to use any extractor
.
one more little trick i have used many times,,, take a proper size nut ,place it over the broken stud. use your mig welder and fill the center of the nut with weld. let it cool and back it out with a socket........
 
I did almost the same thing (broke a tap in a cast iron head) and was about to start looking up shops who can EDM when I had a brainstorm.

I was able to use a very high quality (read: really hard) pointed punch to shatter the tap. USE GOOGLES! From there I was able to remove the pieces with a dental pick and drill around the larger pieces with a very small bit and remove them with a pick too.

This method is a major ***** and took me probably 2 hours. I had nothing to loose at this point, but I would not recommend it to everybody. You need to wack the tap at just the right angle to not drive it deeper, yet just where it looks it might chip or splinter. It's like freakin' cutting diamonds.

A good practical "feel" for different kinds of metal and how they act/react under stress is necessary to to pull this off.

I'm really liking the filling a nut over the stud/extractor idea. I've never tried it and I hope to never have too, but this is good info to file away in my non-alcohol absorbing side of my brain.

If this is an exhaust manifold stud, don't bring it to a shop that will just drill it out the threads and all then helicoil or you will have a coolant leak. Heli-coils work great for fastening but are not oil/water tight unless they locktight red them in and you use high-temp silicone on the stud. Liquid teflon won't even seal.

OK, I'm worn out now. Time for another brew.:drinkers:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top