And the carnage begins....

[07EddyB]

Have a beer!

Way ahead of you.

Good luck!
I'm having an IPA in your honor right now

Cheers!

I've been sitting in the front of the garage with the two youngest talking and relaxing watching it rain.

The Ex will wait for tomorrow

 

[Bill MacLeod]

Did you remove the inner fender ?

Have you removed the 2 nuts from the motor mount? There hidden behind the strut tower. Once you do this, place a block of wood under the oil pan and lift/tilt the motor. The a/c compressor needs to be loosened from its mounting.

A stud puller will get those studs out. I had bought one from Amazon made by Titan. It did the job on the unbroken studs.

 

[07EddyB]

Did you remove the inner fender ?

Have you removed the 2 nuts from the motor mount? There hidden behind the strut tower. Once you do this, place a block of wood under the oil pan and lift/tilt the motor. The a/c compressor needs to be loosened from its mounting.

A stud puller will get those studs out. I had bought one from Amazon made by Titan. It did the job on the unbroken studs.

Not all of the inner fender was removed - the pieces with hard parts behind them were left in place.
The nuts were removed from the engine mount. Again, by placing a block of wood under the oil pan do you mean flat against the bottom of the pan? I'm hesitant to do that for obvious reasons.

 

[Bill MacLeod]

As long as the piece of wood spans the length of the pan sump and you have the stud nuts off the downpipe, lift away. Engine will tilt quite easily.

 

[07EddyB]

Got one of the two remaining studs out - still working on the other. Tried double nutting on the one I got out and that worked but I had messed up the threads on the other one (the one I cut last night) trying to get it with vise grips. Had the right size thread restorer so got the threads fixed up but man this guy is in there. I'll get it eventually - right now I'm concentrating on not snapping it and making things worse.
Thanks for the reply Bill - I'll give it a try.

 

[Bill MacLeod]

Lift the engine until the fan blade makes contact with the shroud. In my case the blade bent slightly then popped outside the shroud. Gave me the best access possible.
What type of extractor are you using on any broken studs?

Each problem solved gets you closer to the end. Keep at it, you will succeed.

 

[07EddyB]

Lift the engine until the fan blade makes contact with the shroud. In my case the blade bent slightly then popped outside the shroud. Gave me the best access possible.
What type of extractor are you using on any broken studs?

Each problem solved gets you closer to the end. Keep at it, you will succeed.

I just finished lifting the engine up some. I didn't go that far but it gave me enough clearance to finally drop the old manifold out. Double nuts couldn't break the final stud loose. I put my thread restorer on and ran it all the way to the head. Then a put a 10 inch pipe wrench on the stud. That broke it loose - I then ran my thread restorer back out and was able to double nut successfully. So I'm basically where I should have been first thing this morning.
You mentioned unbolting the AC compressor - was that for clearance or for lifting the engine?

Edit - I have both spiral and fluted extractors - I plan to try the fluted first since I've not had a lot of luck in the past with the spirals.

 

[07EddyB]

I think I see what you mean about the AC - it's right in the way.

 

[Bill MacLeod]

You will need as much access as possible to get at the broken front studs. Fowl language is allowed and maybe encouraged.

I agree about the spiral extractors. Carefully place them in the trash. NOW.

Once you have centre punched the broken studs, start with small drill bits and use very light pressure. Insert them as far into the drill chuck as possible to prevent flex and breaking. Gradually increase drill bit size.

Think you mentioned you have left hand bits? The studs may back out as you drill in reverse. Mine did not have sealant or locker on them. No corrosion either, looked almost like new.

I lifted the engine as far as possible. Did a dry run with studs installed and dropped the manifold down into place just to make sure it could be installed from above. This worked for me.

 

[07EddyB]

Bottom stud on the front cylinder is extracted. Just got the top left now.

 

[07EddyB]

Taking a break - drilling did not go well on the second stud. I though I was lined up but it went off to the side. Trying to correct that mistake but its hard to drill a new hole close to an existing one. Funny thing is the stud is loose - it turned on me once while drilling. If I had lined it up correctly it would have come out by drilling alone.

 

[Bill MacLeod]

I noticed the exact same thing. Its loose , so now you need a hole large enough for the extractor. Good idea to step back, take a break and evaluate. Probably just a burr on the tread holding it in.

Do you have a small open end wrench that will fit on the extractor? Easy does it till its out.

If you measure the threaded end of an oem stud and compare that to the depth of the threads in the head, you will see that the oem studs do not bottom in the head. They only go in till it runs out of threads. This is where the oem studs bind to the head and IMO this is where they break/snap.

 

[07EddyB]

And - I broke my drill bit. Yes - in the stud. I'm going to go lay under the front porch and lick my wounds and come back out fighting tomorrow.

 

[07EddyB]

I noticed the exact same thing. Its loose , so now you need a hole large enough for the extractor. Good idea to step back, take a break and evaluate. Probably just a burr on the tread holding it in.

Do you have a small open end wrench that will fit on the extractor? Easy does it till its out.

If you measure the threaded end of an oem stud and compare that to the depth of the threads in the head, you will see that the oem studs do not bottom in the head. They only go in till it runs out of threads. This is where the oem studs bind to the head and IMO this is where they break/snap.

Problem is - it's drilled so close to the edge that it's grabbing the head also. I'm going to try some different angles. It isn't a straight hole so I may be able to catch further in.

 

[Bill MacLeod]

Have a real strong magnet like an earth magnet? Broken bit may come out on a magnet.
Or grab it with small needle nose pliers or tweezers.

 

[PotatoExplorer]

Eeeeee.... nothing worse than breaking a drill bit or an extractor off in the hole... makes me want to cry.

Refill your beer supplies and have at it tomorrow. You're so close!!! GO EDDY GO!

 

[07EddyB]

Eeeeee.... nothing worse than breaking a drill bit or an extractor off in the hole... makes me want to cry.

Refill your beer supplies and have at it tomorrow. You're so close!!! GO EDDY GO!

Yep - nothing worse than that. Normally that spells complete and utter doom. In this case though, I know that the stud is basically loose - I just need to get a grip on it. My plan tomorrow is to ditch the right angle drill and go to a normal drill and get an angle against the shock tower. I think that will get me a hole at an angle next to the broken bit. It doesn't have to be deep - I just need to get a bite. The spiral extractors may come in handy here actually. Plan B is to go to a bigger bit now that I have a center hole and a larger spiral may bite even though it will be shallow.

I hope I'm not scaring people off from this job - I'm just giving you the play by play of what you will encounter. As for me, I have no regrets diving into this and when the drivers side goes bad I'll do that one too.

 

[PotatoExplorer]

Hah, well when you talk about broken and seized studs in limited areas... that scares me half to death!! But this thread is good. It's like a TV show or something - Ooooo what's going to happen next!!

Anyone who's man enough to tackle this project on their own has a large set of balls, at least in my book!

 

[07EddyB]

Good - the site's back up. Well, I'm afraid I've hose the final stud.
Too close to the edge at an angle and I can't get a centered hole going. I broke a drill bit in it yesterday, broke an extractor in it this morning. I just don't see any way to salvage it. Eventually the head will have to come off. For now I'm putting everything back together and hoping for the best. I got the bottom stud out so in theory the manifold will be better attached than it was. Hoping it will last for a while at least.

 

[Bill MacLeod]

Can you try to tap on the edge of the broken tools in a counter clockwise direction with a very sharp center punch?
Its worth a try at this. Since the stud is loose, it might start to back out.

Know anyone with a buzz box? (Portable mig welder)