Several exhaust manifold bolt heads have somehow broken off. I am wondering what the level of difficulty it would be extracting these broken studs from the block. I am especially concerned about the inboard one on the drivers side as the fire wall protrudes and limits the possibility of drilling it out. Any advise on this situation would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Skoot61 2003 silverado crew cab 6.0 automatic

 

Easiest way friend, take the heads off and get them out. If you can't, the machine shop can for sure.

 

+1 on that

pull the head and get a set of easy outs and you shouls be able to get them out. hose them down with some PB or wd40 and let thwm set a couple of hours and then try the easy out.

 

Take the manifold off first. Should be a piece of the bolt left behind on the broken ones. Almost like the head pops off. I use these with success on removal in the vehicle.

 

Thanks for the reply's and suggestions so far.. I have removed both exhaust manifolds and the 3 broken studs have about 3/8" showing. I looked into some of the bolt removal kits which require hammering the socket onto the stud. I don't really see having the room to swing a hammer to seat it. So, I have decided to TIG weld a 9/16" nut to each stud end and then attempt to remove them without breaking them at the shoulder of the bolt hole. I'll post results when complete.

 

Heat it up too. So the head can expand a little to make the bolts come out eaiser.

 

All the bolts came out without difficulty. The TIG welding process helped to minimize the possibilties of arc strikes and splatter on the aluminum heads from using the MIG or stick welding.

 

Cool man!! Saved yourself some time and money that way.