1999 Mounty 5.0 aka My Great Bad Idea

[97Sandbox]

What a day. There was no way to get at the front driver's side bolt with a saw blade so I decided to try drilling off the head from underneath. It mostly worked, but the hole gradually wandered off center as I stepped up the bits.

Once bigger bits weren't helping, I switched to the die grinder. It took a LOT of cutting and grinding, but I removed the bolt head without causing too much collateral damage.

Pulling the starter on the passenger's side was my best idea of the weekend. With the starter out, the sawzall made quick work of the inner bolt. The trans cooler lines weren't too in the way (can't wait to ditch those in the future).

So finally, the manifolds are off. I can't celebrate just yet, though -- there's still two broken bolts in the right head. One is broken flush unfortunately, I'm going to try to drill and extract that one. The other has 3/16" sticking out that I'll weld a nut onto. I'm just hoping my welder can reach, I may have to find a way to shimmy the Mounty over a few feet.

 

[410Fortune]

Pull the heads?

 

[97Sandbox]

Pull the heads?

Since I got all the lower intake studs out, I'm hoping not to have to pull the heads. We'll see how these two exhaust studs go

 

[97Sandbox]

Center punch, 1/16, 3/32, 1/8 holes now drilled

Try the extractor -- too tight. Heat, penetrant, rinse and repeat.

I will get the bolts out eventually!

 

[97Sandbox]

After trying the heat/penetrant/extractor method for a few days, I made no progress. The extractor was biting into the front bolt, but felt like it was going to break. I couldn't get a good bite on the other bolt.

I decided to break out the welder. I welded up the holes I drilled in the bolts then welded a flat bar onto the front bolt and a nut onto the other.

After letting things cool down for an hour or so, I tried turning the flat bar. It just snapped off and took the part of the bolt that had been sticking out of the head with it. I tried re-welding the bar onto what was left behind but that broke too. At this point, I'm not sure what else to try besides grinding the weld off and starting over with drilling and the extractor. If the extractor broke in the head, at least I'd have something to weld to.

 

[410Fortune]

Sob
Gotta make sure to get some good heat into those welds, like more then you would normally use on this thick of metal

I have a guy in town, I take him a head like this it’s $20 a bolt…. Just sayin! Lol

 

[97Sandbox]

Gotta make sure to get some good heat into those welds, like more then you would normally use on this thick of metal

Yeah, I was trying to. Having drilled the bolts isn't doing me any favors now I think. I hope I'm not just welding the remaining bit of bolt to the head.

 

[Josh P]

Good excuse for a set of TFS aluminum heads.

 

[97Sandbox]

I've got my eyes on the Edelbrock E-Street heads -- seem like better bang for the buck. Once you add up all the other parts that need upgraded too, any set of aftermarket heads gets expensive though.

I just wanted to fix the exhaust leak...yet here we are, 3 weeks of drilling and welding later.

 

[Josh P]

yet here we are, 3 weeks of drilling and welding later.

There's the justification, and those heads are a good value for the price.

 

[97Sandbox]

In case anyone is wondering, no I haven't given up on the Mounty, I was just out of town for the weekend.

After the welding didn't work, I tried re-drilling what was left behind. Broke my titanium nitride bits, broke my cobalt bits, decided a new approach was necessary.

Went to buy a carbide burr and harbor freight was out of them. Bought a carbide rasp and set of diamond bits instead -- they stood no chance against the leftover weld.

Today I bought a couple carbide burrs at home depot and will try to grind out the weld and what's left of the bolts tonight.

If that doesn't work, the head will come off and I'll try welding again in a position where gravity isn't working against me. I was hoping to not have to do this, but at this point it seems like the best option (one I wish I'd done when you all recommended it weeks ago!). If I go this route, I'll have some questions, but I'll save them for now.

Still hoping to have this engine back together before the cold really settles in!

 

[97Sandbox]

Carbide burrs are neat. I ground out the weld and redrilled the holes up to the appropriate tap drill size. All the threads from the front bolt finally came free while drilling, but the back bolt threads stayed in. I used a pick to dig out the first thread, then tapped my way through the rest. I want to make another pass or two with the tap, but it's looking like we're back in business!

 

[410Fortune]

Dang good work!
Chase all of the holes and clean them out good, anti seize and hopefully this never happens again! Way to persevere!!

 

[97Sandbox]

Chase all of the holes and clean them out good, anti seize and hopefully this never happens again! Way to persevere!!

I definitely will!

I'm really looking forward to picking up the pace again on this refresh. Last bit of disassembly will be removing the rockers and valve springs so I can replace the valve stem seals. I'm hoping those fasteners come off without issue since they've been soaked in oil the last 24 years.

 

[410Fortune]

You won’t have any issues inside the engine
You have a decent valve spring compressor?
You can use air or rope to keep the valves from dropping into the combustion chamber

 

[97Sandbox]

You have a decent valve spring compressor?
You can use air or rope to keep the valves from dropping into the combustion chamber

I bought a valve spring compressor specifically for this job -- I'll see how well it works.

I was planning to use the air technique, but is tying rope to the valve easier/faster?

 

[Turdle]

Stuff thin rope into spark plug hole to hold valves up. Pull it out when finished with that cylinder.

 

[97Sandbox]

That sounds a lot quicker/easier than air!

 

[97Sandbox]

Got pulled into other projects for most of last night, but I did manage to chase all the threads in exhaust manifold bolt holes.

I started loosening rockers and realized I wanted to make sure I totally understand the rope trick before I pull any valve springs. My expectation is you feed as much rope as possible through the spark plug hole to "fill" the cylinder with something that can be easily removed later. I expect it's not that the rope bundle holds the valves closed (like air would), but it takes enough space that the valves can't fall in completely. Is that right?

 

[410Fortune]

Yes that is correct
Small rope like 1/4” dia, insert into combustion chamber leaving the end sticking out. Cylinder should be on compression stroke so both valves are closed.
Turn engine over a bit until the rope contacts the valves, thus keeping the valves in place.
Now you can easily change the springs and seals without worry.


It’s a process that is for sure