Also, if there is enough of the bolt sticking up you can use a small pipe wrench or vise grips to grab and turn it. Use a file to put two flat spots on either side for better grip.

 

A good tech with experience removing broken bolts/studs could pull that out in a few minutes. If there is part of the bolt or stud that is about 1/2 inch sticking out, a nut can be welded on to it. Then heat can be applied to loosen the bolt/stud.

That 3 hour estimate is simply designed to remove money from your wallet.

In the pic, that ground wire is certainly not stock. Where doe the wire lead to??

 

I have the same exact ground wire on mine. I'm pretty sure it is stock. Mine has bolts and not stud like that pic though.

 

My 85 is just like the one in the pic. I am not sure what the ground wire is for.

 

Well...you didn't take my advice the first time, now you have a broken bolt. Your help should have brought a MAP gas torch, instead of a breaker bar. Too late now, but let's try and salvage what you've got rather than turn it to **** with drills, easy outs and all of that happy horse dung.

GETTING THE BROKEN BOLT OUT:

Find a welder, slip a nut over what is left of the stud sticking out of the manifold (nut can be somewhat larger than the stud), crank the heat up on the welder and giv'er hell, welding the ID of the nut to the top of the stud. You want to focus all or as much of the heat into the stud as possible, and only "hit" the ID of the nut w/your puddle, enough to crate a good bond. You'll have more than enough heat for the ID of the nut...it's hard getting enough heat into the stud to hit that the most. Anyway, once you've welded the bejeezus out of the stud, to the nut, slap a properly sized socket onto the nut before it cools and spin that stud right on out of there. Piece of cake.

 

Randy M: that's exactly what mine looked like before I started taking it apart. Do you know if that bolt is supposed to come out from the top? I don't want to try to remove it from the top if it is designed to be taken off from underneath.

Tom-sorry, wasn't trying to ignore your advice, but I think you're greatly overestimating my ability. I don't own a gas torch or know anyone who does, so me welding it is probably out of the question.

I trust the shop-the 3 hour estimate is probably a CYA type thing. They don't want to underestimate the amount of time it takes and then charge me extra. They'll quote worst-case and then charge what it actually takes. I've worked with them several times before and they're really good people, though not terribly familiar with older cars. THAT SAID, with how stuck this bolt is, I'm worried it might actually take a while. I was thinking of offering to drive it over and dismantle the intake etc myself to minimize the amount of work they would actually be doing. I can take the throttle body and plenum off in my sleep after all of the injector work I've done. Then, if it takes them 15 minutes to remove the bolt, I'll put everything back together myself and drive her home. I might also try bathing it in the ATF/Acetone overnight before I go to again make it easier.

 

You don't need a gas torch (previously, a MAP gas torch from Home depot would have gotten it done from you) but now you need a simple, 110v MIG welder. One of your neighbors may have one, any shop should definitely have one.

The 3 hour estimate is some massive *** covering. I'd have that stud out in 10 minutes. I do this same exercise all the time, b/c we have aluminum headed Phord and Chevy engines that break exhaust manifold bolts. They typically seem to break about 1/16" in the hole which sucks, but even with that scenario, I hold a nut over the hole with vice grips, then with the MIG welder, I hit the stud first, let my puddle pile up and blend it into the ID of the nut. I have my tools ready and quick, before it cools, I get my ratchet on the nut and spin those suckers right on out of the head. Works every time.

My advice would be to find a shop or welder who is familiar with the practice that I and C4cruiser are talking about. Pay them 1 hr labor for their 20 minutes worth of work (with set up and clean up) and your problems will be behind you.



.

 

Where do you live? I'm coming over and bringing beer :P

 

Ha ha ha...I'd do that for any 'Vetteforum member (except BTG) in a heart beat. Unfortunately, for this situation....I live in UT.

 

I don't see the problem

 

BTW I re-grounded that ground wire on the back of the smog pump/alternator mount, didn't notice any issues.

 

I am a little confused, how do you mean from the bottom? Bottom of what? That bolt is a special fastener that is a stud with an integral hex a 1/3rd of the way down from the top. If you remove the stud you can use a regular bolt like the other side you just won't have a stud to mount the ground wire.

 

Thanks, that answers my question. I thought it might have been mounted from the bottom of the intake manifold, and there were two nuts on the bolt-sorry if that is a dumb question...

 

Not a dumb question, I just didn't understand it. Glad I could help.

 

The posts above are for the most part excellent advice. Prior to breaking the bolt / stud - heat and GOOD Penetrating oil are your best friends.

Once the bolt / stud actually shears off - sometimes you get lucky - the remains are no longer under tension since what they were holding is no longer there - so sometimes they will come out "OK". I have a set of Left Hand bits in the garage for such occasions, and a number of years ago - I watched as a friend removed the remains of a broken bolt by simply attempting to drill through the bolt with the left hand bit - as the bit was about to break through the end of the bolt, the remains of the bolt power unscrewed.

I DO NOT recommend the EZ-Outs. While I have seen one work - once - they are VERY HARD steel, and they frequently break off - meaning that even a machine shop cant drill through the old bolt... Don't take the chance - the odds are NOT in your favor !!! If the weld a nut on the remnants of the broken bolt / stud works - GREAT. If not - worst case - remove the manifold, and bring it to a decent machine shop - they will drill the remnants of the bolt/stud out, and put a heli-coil insert in the hole, and you'll be good to go. Annoying - but you got home, an the car should be OK.

Now - once you get this issue fixed - the advice you were given about doing a full cooling system drain is spot on. Make sure to pull the block drains as well !!! I'm not sure if you're new to the C4 world - but if you are - the cars are basically "bottom breathers", and you'll find that many cars trap large amounts of debris between the rad and the A/C condenser - the only way to clean it out is to remove the rad and hose the crud out. Removing the rad is not exactly a fun job - but it's doable.

Hopefully - new coolant, and a new thermostat in there along with a nicely cleaned up rad will resolve all your cooling system problems.


GOOD LUCK !!
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This is actually my 2nd C4-I’ve done the full cooling system clean out you just described before. Not fun but it wasn’t awful. With the radiator out I also unbent fins by hand and flushed it really well.

 

The easy outs you pictured are not really the best choice. There is another type from Snap On... The kit comes with a drill guide, drill bits and then splined inserts (male) are tapped into the drilled out hole... then you slide a supplied splined nut (female) over the splined insert. Then you use a wrench or socket to remove it all as one unit. You need to SLOWLY turn the nut in tiny increments both left and right. Along with penetrating oil, Ive had very good success with this method, using this tool.

 

This is the SnapOn package you mention I believe. I've a friend with these and I've used them myself successfully. It's been a while.

https://store.snapon.com/Combination...--P630634.aspx

 

Guys, can anybody remember if the broken bolt in question here goes through into the coolant jacket or the oil valley below?

Or does the threaded hole have a 'bottom'?

I recall one, or both, of these bolts has a bottom and one doesn't.

Anybody remember?

The answer will change what the best idea here might be ....

 

That is indeed the set I have... had it for many years..