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So i broke a Header bolt...................

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Old Mar 4, 2006 | 07:25 AM
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Default So i broke a Header bolt...................

Yeah i just took the car out over the last couple days and put 75 miles on the car and went back to check the bolts to see if they were loose and i got to the first one and did even turn it and it broke off so now im screwed i havent taken the rest out to see if it broke off enought to see if i can get a set or vise grips on them yet but im afraid that i broke off inside the heads if that happened what is the best way of getting that out? i need some ideas
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Old Mar 4, 2006 | 07:33 AM
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Either an easy out or a left handed thread bit. That sucks man, sorry to hear that.
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Old Mar 4, 2006 | 08:15 AM
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Switch to studs while you are at it. ARP makes LS1 header studs.

-Geoff
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Old Mar 4, 2006 | 08:38 AM
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Same thing happened to me, I let my "guns" take over and tightened it too much and the head broke off, I took it to the local mechanic shop, they took the headers off, there was about half an inch of the bolt still sticking out, they tried using vice grips to clamp it down and turn it but didn't work, all it did was eat away most of the bolt so DON'T TRY IT, wat they ended up doing was welding another bolt to the end of it perpindicular to the header bolt then that gave them enough leverage to unscrew it and take it out
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Old Mar 4, 2006 | 09:24 AM
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You might have to drill it with a high speed steel (HSS) drill bit and back it out with a screw extractor, using a tap wrench.
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Old Mar 4, 2006 | 10:52 AM
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I've been there and done that. I still have a broken bolt in the front hole on the driver's side. I didn't want to pull the head to tap it, so I put a exhaust 'sealant' on the header gasket around the port and bolted the headers back up. It sealed up 'for now' without any leaks but it's only a temporary fix. I plan to pull boths head in the furture and change out to a thinner head gasket to cut down my quench and at that point I'll have a machine shop tap the hole and I'll put in header studs as well as head studs when it goes back together.

FYI, you may find that you don't have enough room to work, so rather than getting yourself into a deeper hole, it might be easier to pull the head and have a machine shop do it for you. It's only like $20 to have them do it, add in the cost of new bolts and a gasket and you're still less than $100 and you know it's done right.
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Old Mar 4, 2006 | 12:59 PM
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Originally Posted by White_Hawk
Switch to studs while you are at it. ARP makes LS1 header studs.

-Geoff
I tried them when I did my head install, but there wasn't near enough room to thread the studs in, and then get the header flanges over the studs. I tried to line up the flange and then thread in the studs through the flange, but that was a major PITA and I got fed up, and just used the bolts.

Your results may differ, I have TTS's which have very thick flanges. The position of the primaries might affect how much room you have to maneuver things too.
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Old Mar 5, 2006 | 04:56 PM
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I had to pull the back two studs on the pass side head to get my Hookers in. The studs have a hex insert in the end of them so they are pretty easy to install with a small ratchet even with the headers in.

-Geoff
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Old Mar 7, 2006 | 05:58 PM
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I sent it in to have some look at it they tryed to get it out with a ez out and broke the ez out in it so there takeing off the Head and haveing it machined out so i should have it back on the road soon
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Old Dec 5, 2008 | 10:43 PM
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how much was it to do that let me know thanks
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