Anyone else ever break a header bolt?
03-25-2010, 09:18 AM
#1
Anyone else ever break a header bolt? Installed my Pacetters yesterday. Not the very last bolt but the one before it on the passenger side was giving me ****. It went in very tight and hard to turn. I must have taken it out 10 times in fear it would cross thread or break. Well,I got sick of holding the damn header in place while trying to make this bolt go in right so I just kept on tightening it. It snapped off. It just wouldnt go in right.
Anyone ever break one?
Do you think its gonna leak?
How bad is it gonna leak?
Anyone ever break one?
Do you think its gonna leak?
How bad is it gonna leak?
Last edited by senicalj4579; 03-25-2010 at 12:32 PM.
03-25-2010, 12:15 PM
#7
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well my advice would be this... if it broke flush get a reverse drill bit and drill it out hopefully with some penetrating lube and drilling it will catch and pull out the rest of the bolt, if it snapped off and left a decent about of bolt outside of the head they make some extractors that work really good at getting them out.
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03-25-2010, 02:37 PM
#8
I would remove the header and see if you can grab the bolt with a vice grip, and get it out...then check the threads in the head...if they're damaged, a helicoil would probably work, but it might be AWFULLY difficult to drill/tap the head in the engine bay...so remove it and do it right.
If vice grips don't work...I would try holding a nut in place over the stud, and mig welding it to the stud...then using the nut to spin the bolt out...put the wrench on the nut while it's still hot from the MIG welder as that will probably help your cause...then go back to my advice on checking and repairing the thread in the head...with the bolt being hard steel, and the head being soft aluminum, I can see a drilling operation done freehand with a right angle drill going very very wrong...on a drill press with the head secured properly, it'd be quick and easy, but freehand in the engine bay with a right angle head...you're asking for the drill bit to walk right into the head and drill a new hole in it.
For what it's worth...when you install headers...you should start the 2 easiest bolts you can first, and screw them in about halfway...then support the header by the collector with a jack, so that it's "floating" on those 2 bolts...ie not weighing down on them, and not pushing up on them either...then install all of the remaining bolts loose as well...after they're all started, and several turns into the head, you can start snugging them up (just snug) to bring the header flange up to the head...then you torque them, in 2 passes, I forget the numbers, but it's something like 11 ft lbs on the first pass, then 18 on the second, or maybe 18 and then 25...it's actually a newton meter spec, as the bolts are metric, which is where the strange ft/lb numbers come from. When you torque them, torque the center 2 first, and work your way outward (towards the ends of the flanges)...snug them all in that order first, then make the first torque pass in that complete order, then make the second torque pass in that complete order...then take the jack out from under the collector and move on.
If vice grips don't work...I would try holding a nut in place over the stud, and mig welding it to the stud...then using the nut to spin the bolt out...put the wrench on the nut while it's still hot from the MIG welder as that will probably help your cause...then go back to my advice on checking and repairing the thread in the head...with the bolt being hard steel, and the head being soft aluminum, I can see a drilling operation done freehand with a right angle drill going very very wrong...on a drill press with the head secured properly, it'd be quick and easy, but freehand in the engine bay with a right angle head...you're asking for the drill bit to walk right into the head and drill a new hole in it.
For what it's worth...when you install headers...you should start the 2 easiest bolts you can first, and screw them in about halfway...then support the header by the collector with a jack, so that it's "floating" on those 2 bolts...ie not weighing down on them, and not pushing up on them either...then install all of the remaining bolts loose as well...after they're all started, and several turns into the head, you can start snugging them up (just snug) to bring the header flange up to the head...then you torque them, in 2 passes, I forget the numbers, but it's something like 11 ft lbs on the first pass, then 18 on the second, or maybe 18 and then 25...it's actually a newton meter spec, as the bolts are metric, which is where the strange ft/lb numbers come from. When you torque them, torque the center 2 first, and work your way outward (towards the ends of the flanges)...snug them all in that order first, then make the first torque pass in that complete order, then make the second torque pass in that complete order...then take the jack out from under the collector and move on.
03-25-2010, 02:55 PM
#9
Yea I went back under the hood and iv had enough.I dont have all the tools needed to do this. Im bringing the car to a garage down the street. He said were probly gonna have to take the heads off and retap holes. Also,seeing how its gonna be at a shop....im gonna have them re-adjust the ypipe and weld it instead of the band clamps down there. Hopefully get rid of all that banging and rattling.
03-26-2010, 09:02 AM
#11
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