Can I tap a hole right below the header bolt in the head?
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 124
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From: Michigan
Can I tap a hole right below the header bolt in the head? Can I tap a hole right below the header bolt in the head? I might have to do that because I have a bolt stuck in there right, which is flush with the head. I probably wont get it out, so I was thinking about tapping a new hole right below the header bolt and modify the header to fit the bolt in there. I need this car running asap so I'm trying to come up with some ideas. Thank You.
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 124
Likes: 0
From: Michigan
Drilling it out is very hard because what I am using is self tapping screws (that wear really fast when going against the hard metal of the bolt) attached to a 90° angle driver from a drill. If I removed the head, I could probably get it out with a drill bit. Anyone have some more ideas? The broken bolt is flush with the head.
Thank You
Thank You
I'm a little confused as to what exactly you are doing with the self tapping screws. You should be able to drill a hole with the right angle attachment. Then you insert the easy-out in the newly created hole. The easy-out has flutes on it that screw it into the broken bolt in the opposite direction that a normal screw would tighten. This allows it to dig into the bolt and turn it in the direction it needs to back out of the hole.
Sometimes they can be a little stubborn and require a little heat on the surrounding metal surface to expand it some.
If it still gives you trouble, drill it out bigger and use a larger easy-out.
Worst case scenario is that you drill it out too big and booger the threads. You can then run a tap through and try to salvage them or drill it clean and tap new threads. Then you would just have to use a different bolt for that hole.
Personally, I would do all this before I drilled and tapped a new hole. Unless you are very familiar with your head design, you don't know what you might drill into.
Sometimes they can be a little stubborn and require a little heat on the surrounding metal surface to expand it some.
If it still gives you trouble, drill it out bigger and use a larger easy-out.
Worst case scenario is that you drill it out too big and booger the threads. You can then run a tap through and try to salvage them or drill it clean and tap new threads. Then you would just have to use a different bolt for that hole.
Personally, I would do all this before I drilled and tapped a new hole. Unless you are very familiar with your head design, you don't know what you might drill into.
TECH Addict
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 2,003
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From: Live Oak, FL - in the woods where the creatures lurk.
Find a good welder who can build it out. I've done it many, many, times. That is unless it's super hard to get to. I've bent rods at an angle and used a mirror before to build out broken bolts. Usually the heat of the weld does 90% of the work and breaks up any crud in the threads, and once it's built out the welder can just weld a nut on the end and unscrew it. Trust me, it's 100 times better than boogering up threads w/a drill.
yea do not drill a hole in the head. i had the same problem. i broke a bolt off in the last spot on the drivers side header. very hard to get at. my mechanic welded a nut to the end to back it out. thats the best way to get a bolt out of there
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TECH Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 5,399
Likes: 3
From: Jacksonville, FL
A friend of mine broke the head off on the #1 cyl, 2nd bolt. Since it was "easy" to get to, decided to drill it himself - the angle wasn't exactly right - hit dexcool - not good...be extremely careful.
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