First off, if you don't like working on cars this isn't the post for you. All right guys, I've myself in a bind (literally), and I need HELP! I've tried just about everything I know to do, so I'll take any suggestions. So, here goes...
A long, long time ago, in a land far, far away....Actually, earlier this week, in Bridgeport, I had a customer come in looking for an intake manifold for a 1948 Jeep Willys with a 134 4 cylinder, so I thought no problem and I pull out the handy dandy Dorman catalog. Uh-oh, Dorman doesn't the intake manifold, uh, isn't Dorman supposed to make everything!?!?! So I betray the ways of the old time parts guy and put away the dusty old book, and pull it up on the net, of course I find it at KaiserWillys.com, which I can't buy from due my boss not trusting me with a company credit card, and uh I'm not using my personal credit card.
To make the long story about getting the part short, I picked up a used intake/exhaust manifold assembly from 820 Jeep in Fort Worth, which is a really cool place if your into old Jeeps. The exhaust manifold is cracked, which is no biggie because he doesn't need that part, and they're just bolted together so he can take them apart. Now, I'm not sure if it was boredom, or me just being an extremely nice guy, or just wanting to get my hands dirty, but I decide that I'm gonna take the manifolds apart for the customer, and sandblast it and get it all nice and purrrty.
Here is where the real dilemma begins. There are four little bastards, er bolts, that hold the exhaust and intake manifold assemblies together, I try to take the first one off and immediately round the head off. A minor annoyance, I should have know better but no big deal, so I soak the rounded bolt along with the other three in PB Blaster for a good six hours, I just keep going back and spraying and spraying hoping that the lubricant can get under the bolt head and down the threads. I go back and try the next bolt, with a cheater wrench on the end of the original wrench it busts loose and backs right out. Great! This is gonna work out just fine, right? Wrong. The next bolt loosens after about the same amount of pressure as the second, and comes out, only it didn't come out. The head broke right off the bolt. OOOOOk, that's not as bad as rounding the head off, but this is still going to SUCK.
So, I spray some more Blaster on the final bolt and go back a few hours later ready to take it out. I put the pressure on it and snap, it breaks too! In case you lost count, that's two bolts broken clean off, one with a rounded head and one that came out without a hitch. The flange where manifolds come together is only threaded in the exhaust, so I get a cut-off wheel and take of the head of the rounded bolt and separate the assemblies. Now I'm getting a little cocky thinking that I've got this under control, I'll just get a stud remover, bite down on 'em and pop these bad boys out. Nope. Instead these little bastards BREAK THE STUD REMOVER. Ok, ok, Plan B, or C, or D, or wherever the Hell we're at now: EZ Out. I go up to the front, get some cobalt drill bits and drill the studs/broken bolts out, which was waaaay to easy, and put the EZ Out in and start twisting. What happens? You guessed it, the EZ Out snaps, I actually snapped two of them on these things, a spiral and a square design.
This is where I need help, I've tried everything I can thing short of heating it with a torch because I don't have one readily available, but that might be the only option Do any of you guys have any suggestions? I'm getting desperate!
1 comment:
Probably not the answer you want to hear, but it sounds like you're going to have to drill out the ease out and bolt then tap new threads.
You might try soaking it overnight in Knock 'er Loose. I've had really good luck with it vs PB Blaster, WD-40, ect.
I've also heard of using an extraction rod to burn the bolt out. But you'll probably have to take it to a good machine shop for that.
Good luck!
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