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From: Highlands Ranch (South Denver metro area), CO
Broken bolt in head
I'm not sure this is the correct board to be putting this.
So, I'm working on an LS swap in to an older car (picking up an abandoned project of my fathers) there is a bolt broken in the head. My dad trying an extractor first and it broke off in the bolt then we tried the welding on a head trick but with the extractor broken into the bolt it wouldn't get a good weld. What else can I do to get this out or should I just pull the head and either replace or find someone that might be able to drill and tap (my son thinks we could try it with the drill press?)?
I've had to deal with ALOT of broken-off bolts over the years. I've only tried an "extractor" a few times, and only when I was very young and inexperienced, butt EVERY SINGLE TIME I tried one, it broke off in the bolt fragment, and was made of metal too hard to drill out with any drill bits available to me.
I don't think I even own any of those POSs anymore. Haven't for 40 yrs or more. They're just a myth, designed to vacuum money from the gullible in a moment of vulnerability.
You have 2 choices now: a diamond-tipped drill, or welding to it.
Don't know if this would work on a extractor but back in the day if we had to deal with a busted tap we would take steel punch, sharpen it to a needle point and start chipping away at the tap. Yes you will have to resharpen the punch a few times. Taps are like extractors and are very hard but fragile.
A diamond drill bit may work but it's going to be tough to keep it centered since you can't center punch the extractor since its too hard.
Kind of two choices. New used head or a shop with EDM equipment. Either way the head has to come off.
From: Highlands Ranch (South Denver metro area), CO
Originally Posted by bthomas
Next time skip the extractor and go straight to weld. At this point may have to use nickel wire to weld to the extractor first.
I have never used the extractors before, I have always found other ways of getting things out, good to know it's not worth getting! I was so mad when my dad just used a hand drill to it because I'm strong and stable and I don't feel like I can hold steady enough to do something like that correct let along a 75+ year old that isn't as steady as he once was!
Thank you everyone, I will try to chip it out and weld in again (but with only a flux wire welder I don't have a lot of hope unless I can get the extractor out.
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Broken bolt in head 
