General LSX Automobile Discussion - Headers and Headaches

Well I put some longtubes on my car a little over 2 months ago. Installation was super easy and everything bolted right in... except for the last bolts closest to the firewall on both sides of the block. Turns out that on those last bolt holes on both sides of the block have snapped off bolts in them. So after failed attempts to remove them and very little room we just bolted up everything except the last ones. Till yesterday I had no problems at all. The headers fit very snug against the block.
However yesterday me and a pal tuned up my car since I hadn't gotten to that after I put the headers on. Following this, we took it out for some test runs on the backroads and ended up blowing the drivers side header gasket where that last bolt should be. So now I am realizing that If I want to run my car at the track, Im going to need to bolt up those last bolt holes, or keep paying $40 bucks on gaskets for every time I keep blowing it.

Would tapping in through the wheel well give me a better advantage to try to remove the snapped bolts with an easy out? Any suggestions?

Johnathan

Anyone? Anyone? I have no idea how to get these bolts out. Help?

Easy-bust-it-off-worse, you mean?

I think you'd be well off pulling heads and getting them on your
bench so you can drill them right, or get it done. Not fun, but more
fun than doing it anyway after failing.

Better yet, pull the heads and put in some better ones! That'll fix your problem right there.

Haha I wish. If you guys want to donate, its a done deal lol. So pulling my heads yall think would be the best way to go?

Kinda redneck, but if you can the headers out of the way, and there is part of the bolt sticking out, you can weld a nut to it, soak it in pb blaster and twist it right out. I've done this a number of times with several ls1's and it works. As long as there is part of the bolt sticking out.

One of the bolts snapped in one of my heads as well. Sealant is in there and no problems with several passes down the track. If you want to take it out, swap heads or drill and tap the bolt out.

Pull the heads, do it right, be done with it!

good luck bro....and i thought i had it bad with an intake manifold bolt snapping taking mine off

the same thing happened to me on my far back drivers side bolt. i used gm mls gaskets so i'm hoping it wont leak before i do pull the trigger on a new set of heads. what gaskets did you use?

Like others mentioned I would pull the head. I've had this happen years ago to a LT1 car and pulled the head and tried drilling and extracting it myself. I was off center just a bit and started to make the problem worse. I ended up taking it to a machine shop who got it out and charged me about $50. It was well worth it and I should have just took the head there in the first place instead of trying to mess with it myself.

might have to pull the head, at least its only one of them...

might have to pull the head, at least its only one of them...

Well yea, only one of them on each head that sux. This is very common on trucks with LS motors the back bolts always break. A shop with a angle drill might get the drivers side bolt out but the pass. side head will have to come off theres no room.

I had the same problem on both sides i just used some pb blaster and used vicegrips took a couple hours and some busted fingers but they came out