seriously. cheap exhaust manifold to downpipe bolts. snap off with a 3/8 ratchet. now gotta drill out the manifold and retap..... 1.5 hours into drilling and im not even all the way through one side. aparently rusted and heatcycled over 15 years makes metal very hard...... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Having been in that general proximity, I can say that I do not envy you.
Has more to do with the 15 years of use than the quality of the bolts...either way it's not much fun.
the hardness is the 15 years of use. the fact that they snapped is the quality..... ive never been a fan of mild steel bolts into a cast iron manifold. stainless seems to stick less and wouldnt have rusted to badly that it just snapped cause it was almost rusted through.
Mine snapped on my Corvette, but they were easily removed from the manifolds with a stud puller.
The GM trans guy at the last dealership I worked at would heat the nuts up no matter the mileage.
Good thing all I worked on was Chryslers with their nut and bolt arrangement that would break the cheap "cage" on the bolt head and require some unique solutions to keep it from turning.
they thread into manifold they are not studs.... broke almost flush with flange. i did however heat and then cool and then heat again the manifolds before trying one side came out easy.... drivers side not so much. also had 4 studs for the manifold to head snap when coming off. all on that side only. i just want this damn car out of my garage!!!!!
I always wondered why mfgrs. don't apply anti-seize compounds to some of these fasteners during assembly, as they sure like to add thread locking compounds to some. But then they prolly save a whole .02/ vehicle.
fasted58 wrote: I always wondered why mfgrs. don't apply anti-seize compounds to some of these fasteners during assembly, as they sure like to add thread locking compounds to some. But then they prolly save a whole .02/ vehicle.
There's a lot more thread lock kind of stuff over anti seize.
my trialblazer ss broke 3 exhaust studs off and sounded great to boot. i ended up getting them out with the welding method, which much to my surprise worked astonishingly well. frustrating job though.
Griping about GM using cheap bolts that have been in place for 15 years, especially the ones located at the hottest point in the engine bay? That's a new one on me. Seriously can't blame GM for that one. Even if you antiseize the bolts, after 15 years, they aren't coming out easy, especially if you live in salt use states. The best quality bolt in the world suffers from heat cycling and the elements.
ncjay wrote: Griping about GM using cheap bolts that have been in place for 15 years, especially the ones located at the hottest point in the engine bay? That's a new one on me. Seriously can't blame GM for that one. Even if you antiseize the bolts, after 15 years, they aren't coming out easy, especially if you live in salt use states. The best quality bolt in the world suffers from heat cycling and the elements.
This!
funny, we got them off with PB blaster. we were shocked considering they were 29yrs old...
ncjay wrote: Griping about GM using cheap bolts that have been in place for 15 years, especially the ones located at the hottest point in the engine bay? That's a new one on me. Seriously can't blame GM for that one. Even if you antiseize the bolts, after 15 years, they aren't coming out easy, especially if you live in salt use states. The best quality bolt in the world suffers from heat cycling and the elements.
People hate gm, donchaknow.
Joey
i've had good luck with those nasty things if I know i'm going to be working on it well in advanced with PB blaster...
donalson wrote: i've had good luck with those nasty things if I know i'm going to be working on it well in advanced with PB blaster...
+1 !
I try to shoot a bit of 'blaster on them everyday for awhile -sometimes two weeks or so.
Of course that's because I have the space and time. A lot of people are working on something in the way or their DDs.
donalson wrote: i've had good luck with those nasty things if I know i'm going to be working on it well in advanced with PB blaster...
Now the ghost of Harley Earl has heard you. You're doomed. Cursed for eternity.
You'll need to log in to post.
