Well my header installation is finally complete with some major problems. I some how broke off the last 2 drivers side header bolts. Now, I am not sure if they are broke off in the heads or not. Hopefully they are sticking out enough for me to back em out. I can get them out regardless where they are broke off at with help from one of my good, trusted friends (what's up AP?) here in Lexington.

I have also been told him and others that driving it around like that is ok. So far, so good on that. My main question is should I hold off on it for a month and a half or try to fix the problem immediately when he finds the time? Reason being, I am planning on doing a heads/cam setup about mid Jan with my buddies help.

So will it be worth the trouble to go ahead and fix the problem? Or just wait when I replace the heads anyway in mid Jan and fix the problem then?

Thanks!

 

My opinion is you can wait. Since it seems OK, you don't have any annoying exhaust leak that is driving you nuts. And if you're replacing the heads in January, then you don't care about the biggest risk: sucking cold air into the header when decelerating & bending a valve.

But I'd suggest figuring out what you did wrong so you don't do it to the new heads. Sometimes people get the bolts in cross-threaded & tighten them down & they break. Easy to do since all 6 bolts can be a pain to get lined up. And sometimes the bolts that come with the headers are too long & the bottom out in the head & can break. Mine were & I had to add 2 washers to each one.

 

If you dont have any exhaust leaks I would leave it go. The factory puts loctite on them and you might have dissimilar metal corrosion from alum heads and steel bolts. So getting the broken stud out would be a bitch with the heads in the car. The only problem you might have is warped header flanges someone else might be able to varafi that.

 

Well...I definately have a leak. I can hear here it when I have my cutouts capped up. But as I have said, some friends have told me that it will be OK to drive with for a while. one said he drove around like that for months.

 

conan...I bought the headers used from a guy off this board. He said that he ran them just fine and everyhting was ok when he pulled them from his car. They are Hooker LT's. When we were installing them, one of my friends noticed that with all of the bolts tighted up except for that last one, it was bent outward and you could see light through it. So, we loosened the fronts ones back up a little and starting tightening the back up, it starting going farther in. Who knows...it could be warped.

 

You'll have to pull the heads to get the bolts out. You could possibly get them out with them on but the amount of time it'd take would be less by just pulling the head.

 

What was bent out? The header ?

 

Yeah, you could see daylight in the header, but again, that was with all of the bolts before it tighten up. (I know, mistake number one)

Cannibal, I talked to Alex about this yesterday and said that he/we could take care of it. He did state that we would have to pull the head.

 

If you are pulling everything out take the header and set the flange on a "known level surface " then you be able to see which primary is off from the others. Good luck

 

Just remove the header.

If the bolt is sticking out, use some pliers to back them out.

Get a 8MM x 1.5 tap and clean up the threads and thread in the bolts.

Best way though is to remove head and Heli-coil the damaged threads.

 

If it is in fact bent, then is there anyway to straighten it? I do not want to go out and by new headers. Like I said, Guess I need to be getting a hold of this guy who sold them to me.

 

Depends on how much it is bent.

It needs to have a machinist's straight edge applied to the header flange and have feeler gauges used to determine if and/or how much warpage is present

 

The header flange probably isn't warped. It's probably due to the fact that you have the last two bolts not securing the header flange to the head thus it's not sealing properly to the head and hence your ability to see light through it.

 

With it like this, it is ok to drive with it, correct?

 

It should be fine other than a nice header leak.

 

lol... I knew it would Levi, b/c that's what Alex told me.

 

As said, the header will warp a little if you keep driving it.

 

Yup yup.