Broke my head bolt @#%!

[spitfire5454]

Well intentioned, but don't do it unless its broken off flush.


John C.

yeah, i thought of that but it isnt flush (yet). Also ive heard that if you happen to break one of those in the bolt, you then have a real mess. So heres where i stand: Heat and vice grips didnt work and if i keep trying i will mess up the threads to where i cant get a nut on if i wanted to weld. So i welded. i put a nut on where the top of the nut was flush with the bolt and welded the top. didnt hold. So i put a nut all the way down to where it is on the head leaving about a 1/4" of threded bolt on top. I then welded the hell out the top of the nut and remainig thread. Ill be the first to say that i am not a welder. It is hideous. It looks like huge goop of melted metal. But i think it will hold. something will have to give. it will either snap the bolt again, the nut will come off breaking every weld on the way up (not likley), or the nut will come loose but the threads are so jacked now that it will have no where to go and the bolt will still come out. i got a little overzealus, so in the morning i have to bust out the dremmel to do a little grinding b/c the welds are sticking out a little and preventing the socket from going over the nut. ill let yall know tommorow how it goes. wish me luck, b/c if this doesnt work, im pretty much out of ideas.

[Greasemonkey]

Snap on do a great stud remover it does need an air gun to use it but it will remove most with a 1/4 to 1/2 inch still sticking out
cheers
Steve

[spitfire5454]

update: After welding the nut on and trying, the bolt snapped again. at this point i was tired of messing with it so i just drilled it out and put a helicoil in it. Went perfectly. I probably shouldve done this to begin with, but i get a little nervous drilling into my heads. But it worked out fine, so now i can get on with my other supercharger repair buisness. Thanks for the help. Oh yeah, are the head bolts special or something, or can i just use a grade 8 hex bolt?

[newthings]

I am surprised the bolt did not come free with the load off.
The lesson is to run a tap down every hole and use Never Seize or other thread lube anti corrosion product on every bolt. You will not get a true torque reading without a thread lube. In critical applications, for the first pass in tightening I torque to about half load and back off twice and then turn to the target value.
Good luck.
Roy

[Rene M]

I am surprised the bolt did not come free with the load off.
The lesson is to run a tap down every hole and use Never Seize or other thread lube anti corrosion product on every bolt. You will not get a true torque reading without a thread lube. In critical applications, for the first pass in tightening I torque to about half load and back off twice and then turn to the target value.
Good luck.
Roy

I have " for the most part" stopped using head bolts for this reason and have moved most of my motors to head studs.. no broken bolts, a better and more even head torque, less failure or leakage from head gaskets, usally cheeper to get a set from ARP than factory head bolts. If you read the fine print , the factory does not recommend the reuse of head bolts, Very few do.
Just some food for thought.

[psychos2]

I have " for the most part" stopped using head bolts for this reason and have moved most of my motors to head studs.. no broken bolts, a better and more even head torque, less failure or leakage from head gaskets, usally cheeper to get a set from ARP than factory head bolts. If you read the fine print , the factory does not recommend the reuse of head bolts, Very few do.
Just some food for thought.

He is talking about the bolts that hold stuff to the head not the actual head bolts. shawn

[Rene M]

He is talking about the bolts that hold stuff to the head not the actual head bolts. shawn

oops my bad.. sorry to stick my nose where it does not belong. I saw head bolt and as a tech i think head bolt not a bolt somewhere on the head.