[inteva6184]

My intake manifold was leaking so it was time for a new gasket. Easy job? NOOOOOO. So first of all whats with the t40 honestly they couldnt have cast it a little differently so you dont need a special 6" long one? Anyway I got the tool pulled the intake easy no problem. Now for the lower intake should be easy. Nope. 3 bolts broke 3 bolts wtf? So time to break out the drill yup I snapped off the bit in the one bolt thats where the fml set in. So now I have no idea what to do I am at a loss anyone have any good suggestions. Drilling a drill bit out sounds borderline impossible but hey I dont do this for a living so info would be great. Also I missed one connector at the back of the engine and broke a sensor I think its the knock but if you guys could confirm that itd be great. I am not starting off so well with this bronco. :whiteflag

 

[BigWheelz]

Unfortunately the snapped off bolts are common. The worst thing you can do is try to remove the broken bolts yourself with some fine chinese hardware. You will just break bits, get shavings everywhere, and frustrate the crud out of yourself.

The fix here is heat. The most common method is to weld nuts to the part of the stud sticking out of the hole....If you were lucky enough to be left with enough to weld to. If you do not have access to a welder or the right equipment, have it towed to a shop so they can weld nuts onto the broken bolt. Or remove the heads and take them to a machine shop.

Probably, your cheapest way out is to replace the heads with a good used or reman set or some GT40's. I see GT40 irons on craigslist for $2-400 all the time.

Whatever the fix, replace the bolts with studs in the 4 corners of the lower intake when you reassemble. Also be sure to antisieze all of the bolts & studs!

 

[inteva6184]

Thanks for the help. Unfortunately 2 of the 3 broke off below the head. Bahhh so it looks like im fubar. I like your gt40 idea, man this was supposed to be a quick easy job. Oh and the bit I broke off was worse than china junk it was craftsman haha. One of these days I have to take all my broken craftsman tools bag.

 

[BigWheelz]

Thanks for the help. Unfortunately 2 of the 3 broke off below the head. Bahhh so it looks like im fubar. I like your gt40 idea, man this was supposed to be a quick easy job. Oh and the bit I broke off was worse than china junk it was craftsman haha. One of these days I have to take all my broken craftsman tools bag.

Sorry to hear your luck. Your best bet is to pull the heads and repair or replace.

FWIW, check the craftsman packages....more and more of their stuff is hecho in china these days

 

[mr7confused]

Happened once when a buddy and I were removing the intake on his Firebird. Same deal, and we ended up fmling all the way through to the removal of the intake manifold. broke like 4 easy-outs, but eventually got it out. good luck to you sir

 

[FordsForeverEric]

Your engine needs an exorcism!! :crazy:enforce:goodfinge:angel

 

[inteva6184]

Good news I got the drill bit out woohoo. Turns out it broke right when I got thru so I was able to knock it the rest of the way. Now all I have to do is pray my ez out doesn't break and I may be ok.

 

[inteva6184]

By the way can anyone confirm is that the knock sensor I broke? I would ha e posted earlier except I broke my laptop too. FML

 

[mr7confused]

You gotta take it easy guy! breaking everything huh?
Like I said earlier, we broke multiple easyouts, but kept trying them and eventually got the bolt out with them. ha so dont worry if it breaks its happened to me!

 

[soldier_rob004]

Well after filling my belly with turkey, my nephews 1995 suburban was leaking from the thermostat housing. He was replacing the gasket when he broke the bolt off with nothing sticking out. Then I drilled and started using my easy out when it broke off too. Now we can't get a bit to penetrate the broken easy out. Is there any special hardened bits we can use? Thanks,

Rob

 

[thin blue line]

i would love to know this answer too

 

[mr7confused]

Stop breaking bolts!! Haha
Have you used heat at all?

 

[soldier_rob004]

We have heat available, but haven't tried it on the aluminum manifold. Is it worth trying?

 

[mr7confused]

I think when it comes time to twist it out of the hole, but what about welding a bolt to it?

 

[soldier_rob004]

It broke off below the intake, and the easy out broke off in the same place. Nothing showing to weld to.

 

[inteva6184]

I used carbide dremel bits and ground it away as much as I could then luckily it was a through hole and I was able to knock it out the other side with a punch. Needless to say I had alot of hours into it and ended up using a helicoil. The last broken stud I was able to weld to and got it out that way.

 

[soldier_rob004]

My nephew is getting some good bits tomorrow and we will try that, but the chevy intake has buckets for the therm housing bolts. I'll update tomorrow after we mess with it some more.
Thanks for the advice though!

 

[inteva6184]

I will tell you this is honestly the worst thing ive ever done to a vehicle. I have about 3 days messing around with these stupid bolts and I finally got them helicoiled. I wish you luck

 

[soldier_rob004]

Thanks