1 bad horror story.... cam install

Well 1st off kill me...
while changing the valve springs which i might add is a big pain in the @$$.
I was using the "crow bar" valve spring compressor and on cyl no.8 and... BOOM!
spring flys off keepers and retainer go all over and the waterpump bolt broke off in the head. now heres m7y question, i know it has to come out of there somehow, but the question is how. its under the cowl, and there is no way to get a punch on there, and drill, to use an EZ out, that is the only was i know how to get that out. does anyone else have any insight on this?

waterpump bolt in the head back under the cowl? I must be misunderstanding something...

in the hole for the rocker arm, using a crowbar type valve spring compressor

you mean the rocker arm stud? Well, there's on option but it's pretty risky. got a mig welder? take a small nut and place it right over the broken bolt. Tack the nut to the bolt. Use short burst and let it cool in between. The nut won't weld to the head since it's aluminum. But if you get it too hot it WILL split the aluminum. So take your time. Once the nut it tacked on well (slowly tack til the hole in the nut is filled) then you can unscrew it with a wrench or socket easily.

the big problem is that the bolt broke off inside and its not sticking out of the head. Looks like illhave to pull the head off.

the big problem is that the bolt broke off inside and its not sticking out of the head. Looks like illhave to pull the head off.

Even so the method that Mike laid out will work if done very carefully.
Another method is using a stick welder and starting the arc then jamming the rod into the puddle then un clamping the holder from the rod. Sometimes this will stick hard enough to unscrew the broken bolt.

Man... I need to get a welder.

Any chance in hell a right angle drill with a shortended bit would fit? I have seen some that are fairly compact.

I feel for you. I have 2 helicoil kits here from my heads/cam and clutch job.

If you get it out without pulling the head, you're welcome to use my Larry tool to put that spring on. I know 7 & 8 ain't any fun with a lever type compressor.

yeah, I was goin to suggest a right angle drill too. if you get a left hand drilll bit, most times once it starts drilling into the bolt, it will walk it the rest of the way out. since the bolt broke off from stress and not rust, it will come out easlily once you get a bite on it.

either way, with the intake and front of the engine disassembled , the head will come off pretty easily. worst part is removeing the header.
good luck
chris

worst part is removeing the header.

And cleaning the block. '99s have the graphite gaskets, yuck! Left-hand drill bit is an excellent idea.

Good luck,

Dan

yeah, I was goin to suggest a right angle drill too. if you get a left hand drilll bit, most times once it starts drilling into the bolt, it will walk it the rest of the way out. since the bolt broke off from stress and not rust, it will come out easlily once you get a bite on it.

either way, with the intake and front of the engine disassembled , the head will come off pretty easily. worst part is removeing the header.
good luck
chris
It looks like i may be able to fit a right angle drill in there but is there any way to insure that it will drill right down the center of the broken bolt??

Getting it started in the center will be the most important and hardest part.

If you're lucky you can use a punch to make a little dimple that would help get the bit started on center. If that's not really an option you could make a starter hole with a really small diameter bit. Just don't snap it off in there.

Get the area well lit and take your time. I think it will back out easy if you can get a left hand bit to bite.

Ah what you are saying is you used a waterpump bolt to thread into the rocker arm hole to use the spring removal tool. That sucks man :( the Drill bit thing is a good idea though.

well, a dimple witha center punch will be best, but that will be hard to do w/the cowl hangin over it. def. start with a small diam. bit. no need to drill all the way in with it though, maybe 14 in. just so the bigger bit will center in that hole, instead of chowing the threaded insert around the bolt or worse drilling into the alum. be very careful of that. after you get started stop and double check its near center. maybe start with a 1/8" drill bit. then step up to a 3/16" that is left handed. just make sure you stay near the center and all will be good. if it starts a tiny bit off center, its ok cause you can act. make it go back to whatever angle you want after it starts by angleing the drill for a sec. or two in the direction you need it to. also, I wold plug all the holes into the oil drain back so no metal chips go down there. best bet would be to clean the area really good with some brake parts cleaner, and act. use some masking tape or duct tape and newspaper or something to really isolate the metal chips. use a vac. cleaner to suck up the bits as you go. only apply gentle press. to the bit. and use slow speed. so make sure the drill is adj. or y ou can feather the speed. if you go fast, it will not bite and will just drill into the bolt, or worse just make the bit dull fast. you can rent an angle drill if you dont want to have one, but they do come in handy from time to time. good luck

Ah what you are saying is you used a waterpump bolt to thread into the rocker arm hole to use the spring removal tool. That sucks man :( the Drill bit thing is a good idea though.
yep thats what happend

Irocss85,
my dad has this atachment for his drimmle that fits just fine in there. He is gitting some sort of bushing made to fit in the hole so the bit can go in stright. But the rest of the plan sounds a lot like what were going to do. I hope it works because i dont realy want to pull thehead off. Thanks for all your help guys and ill let you know hoe it gose.
Thanks again, Dane

Thanks for all your help guys and ill let you know hoe it gose.

Any news? ~300 thread views, it looks like a lot of people are waiting to see how it turned out. Let me know if you need an extra set of hands.

Pops is back in town today so we may try and get it out tonight but if not we will tomarrow. I am hopping I can get her running this weekend so i can drive her with the cam in a couple times before the snow flys.

Broken bolt is out!
Drilled it with the drummel and used a left handed bit and it came out very easy.
Car is all put back togather except for the rocker arms because i dont have the right torque wrench. I am running up to pep boys in the moarning and renting the right one so hopefully she will start up. If all gose well I will post a video clip some time tomarrow.

Dan,
I wil have the magnets back to you asap, probly monday. Thanks again for letting me use them.

Good to hear you got it fixed,what a relief when things start going right.

cool. glad to hear it worked. now, make sure you torque the rockers in the right order, rotating the eng. over as the directions tell you. the first time I did it, I didnt think it would matter. a couple of them were looseonce we started it. so just do it in the right order and you'll be good to go. later
chris

Glad to hear you got it out.
What cam did you go with?

Fired it up today sounds good. I thought the idle would be a little more lumpy than it is, it allmost sounds close to stock even with the cut out open. The guy i bought it from said it was a MTI C1 which is a 222/222 .566/.566 112 lsa on the end of the cam its marked Lunati 114 I dont know if that is the LSA or something else.

Lunati may grind for MTI. There's only a couple companies out there that grind cams, and everyone else just puts their names on them. But if it IS a 114 lsa, then it's gonna have a fairly mild idle.

Started it p when it was cold and it sounded how i thought :D like a race car

Yet I have a nother problem, somehow on the install the little red tiny wire that gose in to the alternator got pulled out and now the battry wont charge. My question is do i have to get a new pig tail clip and solder it or is there an easy way to re commect it?

is it the round terminal w/the thick red cable to the batt, or the small conn. w/2-3 wired in it? if its the round termanal, just get a new end from autozone. if its the plug, your best bet is to just buy a new conn. end for it. your dealership can get it for you, but it'll prolly cost about $30.
chris

is it the round terminal w/the thick red cable to the batt, or the small conn. w/2-3 wired in it? if its the round termanal, just get a new end from autozone. if its the plug, your best bet is to just buy a new conn. end for it. your dealership can get it for you, but it'll prolly cost about $30.
chris
It is the small connection to the alternator it self. Looks like ill have to pull the powerstearing off to get to it. This just proves that nothing is easy...

had the same problem when I pulled and reinstalled the engine. I took the connector apart. You can take the top half off of it, and that gets you better access to the terminal inside. I soldered the red wire back to that terminal and then insulated it from moisture with silicone before putting it back together. Has worked like a charm ever since.

had the same problem when I pulled and reinstalled the engine. I took the connector apart. You can take the top half off of it, and that gets you better access to the terminal inside. I soldered the red wire back to that terminal and then insulated it from moisture with silicone before putting it back together. Has worked like a charm ever since.
sounds like a good idea did you need to take the power stearing off to get down there?

no, in fact I had the alternator go bad down the road (unrelated) and I pulled it form the bottom. no problems, didnt have to remove anything other than the belt