Broken Exhaust Manifold Bolt

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Bobo

n00b
Dec 26, 2016
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0
1
OK, thought I could take it out with an "easy out". Now I've got a broken easy out in the hole I drilled in the broken bolt. Can't drill it as drill won't bite into the easy out material. So I have watched several you tube videos with an electric welder building up the bolt and using a vice grips to get it out. The heating of the bolt and the aluminum block acting as a heat sink helps break the bolt loose. Has anyone tried this? Or just forget about it and hope the other bolts and gasket will seal up the exhaust without this last bolt holding anything.
 

pontiacgp

blank
Mar 31, 2006
29,270
20,391
113
Kitchener, Ontario
I have welded a nut on a broken stud/bolt but if you have aluminum heads I'd remove the head to do the job
 
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TURNA

Rocket Powered Basset Hound
Jul 24, 2009
10,941
19,990
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Socialist NY
is it in or out of the car? Is the head on a bench or engine?
 

buick7332

Master Mechanic
Oct 21, 2014
350
589
93
N.E. Philadelphia area
OK, thought I could take it out with an "easy out". Now I've got a broken easy out in the hole I drilled in the broken bolt. Can't drill it as drill won't bite into the easy out material. So I have watched several you tube videos with an electric welder building up the bolt and using a vice grips to get it out. The heating of the bolt and the aluminum block acting as a heat sink helps break the bolt loose. Has anyone tried this? Or just forget about it and hope the other bolts and gasket will seal up the exhaust without this last bolt holding anything.
Your best bet would be a high speed die grinder and a burr bit. You Will need steady hands. Start grinding out the easy out gently and then redrill the hole and try again. Cheap ez outs from home depot will break right off, so look for a good quality. If your lucky you can shatter the ez out with a hardened punch or drift pin and then re tap the hole. Worst case scenario you redrill for a heli coil.
 
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L92 OLDS

Comic Book Super Hero
Mar 30, 2012
2,872
3,050
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West Michigan
Building weld up on the broken bolt is easy. I highly recommend this method. Make sure you protect the head from weld splatter and you will be OK. As you can see in the pic below I used a harbour fright flux wire welder and duct tape which worked OK. I had 3 broken bolts on the 5.3 heads that came out easy with a vise grip.
weld.jpg
 
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superbon54

G-Body Guru
Apr 15, 2014
755
2,439
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Wisco
I’ve done cast iron heads on the bench by mig welding a small nut - OD just slightly larger than that of the bolt - to the broken portion, then a larger nut to the smaller one. The smaller nut helps direct the weld to the bolt/stud. The studs weren’t deep in the head either. They were cheapie stock heads and I didn’t weld very long for obvious reasons, but it worked for me. I also didn’t have an easy out jammed in there. YMMV

I replaced 5 broken manifold studs on my truck last winter. It has aluminum heads and it took longer to get the inner fenders out to do the work than it took to extract the broken studs by welding nuts on.
 
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