billthe3

Ok, cool. This is one of the two bolts on the manifold that are at the back of the engine next to the oil filler cap. All the bolts in the engine are extremely hard to break loose, beit from being all coroded or age or whatever, but once they break loose I haven't been having any issues. Just getting it loose in the first place.

I'm going to go to another sears in the area later today to see if they have the hex head sockets that the first one didn't, so if I can't get it out with the one I got I'll go buy one of those socket extractor sets.

Dave951M

You'll probably have less of a problem if you soak it in PB Blast, heat, repeat. Try that several times before attacking it again with the new stuff. Sometimes it helps to tap the back of the wrench while applying torque to break if free. Finally, a left hand drill will probably prove the easiest.

Dave951M

By heating, I'm NOT saying to get it up to 500+, just hitting it with a propane torch till its about at the same heat as an operating engine is all you need to do. Kroil is great stuff if you can find it. PB is a very good next choice.

nine-44

I normally hammer a slightly oversized torx bit into any stripped 12pt or allen bolts. It works about 90% of the time for me. Next I go to drilling. Be sure not to go too deep so you can get pliers on the remaining threads. Just drill the head off. Good luck

billthe3

Ok, so the first drill-out thing didn't work, so I repackaged and returned it and bought one of the socket-type sets, get home only to figure out that the smallest socket in the set is still to big to do anything, so by this point I was really pissed off at the whole matter (had to drive to two different sears for each of the two extractor sets, each one being about 20min it opposite directions of my house) as well as being pissed at the car for being such a pita, so I just drilled the head off the bolt. Judging by how fast I drilled through the remaining material I would have broken the head off anyway from any torque I would have applied to it.

I took some pictures of the remaining stud, but the camera is out in the garage so I don't have them. Because of the location of the bolt I'm thinking I won't even bother getting the rest of it out and I'll just leave it as a stud to keep the manifold from sliding around.


Here's the bolt, its the one numbered 20 on the left. Props to tom86951 for the pic.

Matt Sheppard

FWIW, I've used Andy's technique (post #21) with excellent results. I've gotten stubborn and stripped cam tower bolts (the ones INSIDE the casting) and even torque tube coupler bolts out using this method. The TORX splines bite into the bolt at the corners of the allen recess and tapping the socket back with a hammer to seat (what you should do anyway with any hex head upon removal) has always given me a no-budge grip on the fastener.

That is not too tough a place to strip a fastener, at least it's accessable.

billthe3

I tried the torx socket thing, but I was afraid of using one that was to much larger than the hole because I have no idea of the quality of the bits I was using (some generic old hand-driver set my dad has from who knows when), so when I tried one that was only a little larger than the hole it just continued to bore out the hole.

But yeah, luckily the positioning of this wasn't to bad - my worse fear is that all the metal shavings might have somehow gotten into the engine, but it looks like they all stuck to the dirt/oil buildup on the manifold.

968turbos2

Take a titanium drill bit that is slightly smaller that the shaft of the bold you want to extract. Drill straight into the center of the bolt in the same place you would normally put the allen key. Drilling straight through will essentially leave you with a headless stud. This happens all the time on German axles with the 12 point allen heads. Drill straight and true.

Legoland951

Its been said by a few of us who have removed more stubborn bolts than that many times. Use a cobalt drill bit and I can have that thing out including the threaded part in less than 5 minutes.

billthe3

Yeah, this is exactly what I did.