This morning I pulled the upper and lower intake manifolds on my 89 E150 powered by a 351 to try and track down a potential vacuum leak. As is fitting with my luck in life, one of the lower intake to cylinder head bolts broke. And, of course, it is the front-most bolt on the driver's side, buried beneath the A/C compressor. So, what started as a simple intake gasket change and tune-up is potentially turning into tearing half the motor apart to get the driver's side head off to pull one damn broke intake manifold bolt.

Does anyone have any suggestions of ways I can get this bolt out short of pulling the head? I am VERY leery of trying to drill it out or use an easy out since the intake is off leaving the lifters and ports exposed.

I would take a welder and put a few welds on top of the bolt (assuming you can get to the top of it) and put a nut over it and weld the inside of the nut to the top of the bolt. you will be surprised how easy it will come out. The welding heat helps alot. good luck...

that sucks i know where that bolt is when i was younger built a 351C up to NOS we put it in a 72 mustang, scary fun but scary, can't imagine its gonna be much fun in the 150 if u where to easy-out it i think it would be ok if u taped it with good paper and 3m tape over the exposed area with a good magnet to pick up the chips before and after removing the paper sorry wish i could help more

Sorry to hear of the epic disaster Reed, you sure don't deserve it!

I'm afraid of using EZouts in tight places like that too. Just a bit of side thrust, it snaps, and you're screwed.

If the end is exposed, I'd try what nomercy79 suggested about welding a nut on.

I may be mistaken, but it runs in my mind that Phoenix may have had some slick way of dealing with this sort of issue.

I'd add that tapping on the end of the bolt with a hammer *might* help shock the bolt loose. Just be sure not to mushroom the end of the bolt! Maybe put a piece of brass on the end of the bolt. This tapping may work best while it's plenty hot. Let it cool before attempting to turn it out.

If you can spray any PBlaster or similar penetrating oil to where it can seep in around the bolt, try it. Sometimes a head bolt will get rust around it's circumference which expands out against the inside of the bolt hole, and from sheer surface area involvement will give you a fight for your life. Even a bit of friction reduction can tip the balance in your direction.

Good luck!!

I'll keep my eyes to the skies; if I see any new objects in orbit I'll know you and your wrench went ballistic...

;0)

Cover the valley and ports with masking tape and shop towels. I have had good luck drilling those and using a chisel to break the rest of the bolt after drilling and pull out the pieces with some needle nose pliers. Then flush the hole with blaster or wd. Finish by chasing the threads. Good as new. Purchase some stainles fasteners before putting it back together.

Thanks for the comments guys, I appreciate it. I was so ticked of and frustrated I had to walk away from this for a bit because I know this operation will require patience and a delicate touch, which I just wasn't in the mood for. Here is what I am dealing with:



The bolthole itself is actually a through-and-through, not a blind hole. The bolt goes into a protrusion on the head and the bottom of the bolt hole is open over the front of the motor. However, as you can see, space is TIGHT.

So far, I have been able to drill completely through the broken bolt and I have tapped a small bolt extractor into the hole (yes I know they break). However, I found that I don't have a handle for the extractor so I am trying to come up with some way to securely grab the extractor and turn it (it is like a tap). I am afraid I am going to end up just drilling out the bolt hole and digging the remains of the bolt out with a pick, then rethreading the hole.

So far, I have been able to keep the drill shaving out of the motor using towels stuffed around the motor. Ugh. From now on I am going to chase ever thread and run a tap through every bolt hole on any bolt I turn on all my vehicles. I will keep breathing deeply and working slowly, and hopefully I will get this licked by this evening.

OK- now that I got the broken easy-out drilled out of the stuck bolt, I can continue to drill out the stuck bolt. Bolt extractor products are all scams. I have never had one not break on me, and I have never heard about anyone who actually had one work for them. I just threw away the set I had because they are garbage. Hopefully there will be enough meat left in the cylinder head for me to tap some threads when I get done drilling out the stuck bolt....

Definitely going to look into stainless manifold bolts. Several of the other intake bolts were popping when I first started to loosen them.

The outcome of one of my recent adventures. I hope yours will work out as well.


I wouldn't recommend stainless bolts as they can seize. I try to use grade 8 bolts as they will usually come out in one piece. If you decide on stainless use never-seize on 'em.

BTW I read that a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF will out perform most penetrating oils hands down.

Gotta totally agree with catfish stainless like to bind.There is only two things that i know stainless binds worse in then iron and steel castings, and that is aluminum and cast aluminum.