Well guys I was so excited today when I got my Jet Hot Mac's because I have been waiting for over 6 weeks for them. Well I started and everything was going very smoothly until I got to my second to last bolt remaining on the drivers side. I put the socket on the bolt and put very little preassure and snap. It broke off flush and am totally clueless on how I am going to get a drill and an ez out in there. So I figure let me think on it while I am removing the passingers side. All the bolt cam off with no problem and I got the manifold out with little hassel. Now comes the fun part The back bolt on the manifold was already broken off in the head and was gone. So now I have two bolts broken in the heads and what seems to be the most difficult spots to get out. Please help, I can use as many suggestions as possible.

 

I went through this about six months ago myself.Depending on which ones are broken off,I think it is the last ones ,are not used.I was not so lucky and ended up pulling both heads to remove them.It gave me a good excuse to have a little head work done anyway.

 

What did you do about the broken exhaust manifold bolts in the heads? I too have one broken off in the second to last one on the rear drivers side and the last one on the passenger side either fell out, or was never installed? I looked at the manifolds and I don’t see any signs that the bolt was ever installed on the passenger side and the drivers side either broke off when the engine was assembled or it broke off so long ago that there are no signs that the bolt was ever there. But the broken off bolt was there at some point in time because it I broken off & I or no one else did it.
I do know that before I started messing with the exhaust, the car ran fine & did make any noises. I have thought of putting the exhaust manifolds back on with one less bolt. The exhaust manifolds have never been messed with until a couple of months ago when I decided to replace my Y-pipe with a non gutted one because I can’t get the car to pass the emissions test. I bought the car new in December of 1993 and I know the motor has never been worked on. Anyway, what is the best way to fix this problem short of pulling the heads? Thanks, Shimaze

 

Sadly enough, you will more than likely have to remove the heads. I was removing my whole engine at the time when one of my header bolts snapped into two. It is still stuck in my head to this date. Mine has about 1" of thread outside of the bolt hole though so I can get some vice grips and hopefully back it out.
I know machine shops will do it for you. Also many automotive stores sell kits to remove bolts from engines heads etc. I would check into that first. However, you want to be extremely careful because you do not want to damage your aluminum heads.

 

Thanks for the advice . I will try to remove it with the heads on the car. If not, I may try to install the exhaust manifolds and simply leave the one bolt out. If it leaks, I'll get back to it after the winter is over. I don't really need to drive my Z28 any time soon, but I need to get the emmisions test done and get tags for it so I can get it out of the garage . Shimaze

 

First things first. Penetrating fluid. Soak it for a whole day if you can. The longer the better. If you can get vice grips on it, go for it. If not, can you get a punch and hammer in there? I have a couple of broken bolts on several things around the house and I have had some practice. I got 2 of them out by welding a big bolt to the broken bolt. Then using a wrench, I turned the big bolt(5/8" hex head) and backed out the broken one too.

Good luck. I feel it for you. Broken bolts suck.

 

You are almost guaranteed to fail emission with a leaking manifold, and you are almost guaranteed a leaking manifold with 1 bolt missing. Try to get one of those angled drills and get the reverse threaded bolt extractors from sears, they work wonders.

 

Same thing happened to me so I decided to just pull it and stroke it.

 

Please keep your posts at the "PG 13" level

Rich

 

Wow. You break a bolt so that was the only reason you needed to stroke it? What kind of performance upgrades do you do when you have to change the oil?

Speaking of breaking things off, I broke the bushing for the oil feed line to my Procharger today Luckily, I got an easy out in there and all is well.

 

A stripped spark plug was the reason i built my motor.

 

OIC.

A question for you. Did you have to lengthen/shorten the axle tubes on the 8.8? I have to get another rear and a 8.8 is an option. Thanks.

 

Sorry I converted it to a 383.