fuckin A, im puttin my head on, and i was torquing them down in sequence, to 9 ftlb, and the got dam head broke off, then undoing them 3 more came off! all the bolts snaped in half and little nubs are stickin outa the head where the bearin mates with the head.. so thee ? is how fuct am i.. if i drill them out what do i need to do to keep from having to remove the head...oram i royaly fuct? my guess is the big torque wrench was over kil for 9 ftlb...

I would definitely remove the head. I suppose that you could get away with it on the car, but you are going to get chips everywhere, that's not something I would want in my head/engine. If you remove it you can at least blow the chips out with compressed air. Plus you will be able to get at them better. Getting steel screws out of aluminum is hard enough without having to lean over a car. I personally probably wouldn't do it myself, I would probably take it to a machine shop...but I'm lucky I work for one. Or at least have my dad do it...but he was a journeyman tool and die maker for 30 years.

If you get off center a little bit and drill into the threads of the head then you are really f'd. And that's easy to do with aluminum.

Good luck bro.

*edit*

Also I would buy all new bolts and a new torque wrench. :thumbsup

You should be able to fix this issue, but you're going to need to be extra careful extracting the snapped bolts from the head. You do not want to fubar the threads.

If it were me I would suggest getting a hardened drill bit and an extractor. You need the strong drill bit because the cam cap bolts are something like a grade 8.8, which is pretty strong. You need to drill into the middle of the bolt and deep enough to drive the extractor into the hole. Once the extractor "bites" into the bolt you should be able to grab it with some vice grips and twist the broken bolts out.

Again I stress that you need to be extremely careful while doing all this for 1, you don't want to get off center of the snapped bolt while drilling and 2nd, you need to keep metal shavings/debri clear of falling into the head. I would suggest using something kind of magnet in the shape of a pen to pickup all the shavings.

*Edit*
I had to help Stanley (totaleklipse97) remove a snapped bolt from his head. We did it with the head still on the car, and were able to clean up all the shavings. It was tricky, but we got it done.


http://www.dsmregistry.com/detail.php?carid=1185

First, I would get a small chisel, very small chisel, and a small hammer and tap the side of it broken bolts to try to get them to turn. I have done this with a broken cam cap bolt on my head before. If that doesnt work, get a spring loaded punch, punch the bolt dead on the middle, drill a small hole, then try to use a small extracter to get them out, If the extracter doesnt work, a reverse threaded drill bit will. I have done all these methods before, so I know they will work. Just becareful.

Good ideas Mike! :thumbsup


http://www.dsmregistry.com/detail.php?carid=1185

wait!!! before you do anything!!!

when i got my head i had a bolt broken off. it was just a little still in the head. they aren't bottomed out. if you tap (with a little hammer or even less like a screw driver) them you can cause enough friction on the sheared surface to back them out. no hard tooling required!

at least they should be that way if you left the threads clean before you put them back in.

also if that doesn't work and you want to drill, take a small washer and weld the center to the bolt. just a quick tack. then weld a nut to the washer. blammo!! you have another way of backing out a bolt in a sensitive surface.

Here's how I do it:

Get a spare nut. Fit it over the little nub of thread sticking out of the head. Then take a MIG welder and weld the inside of the nut to the small threaded nub of the old bolt. Now just take a wrench and turn it to remove. Simple.

Ofcoarse you must have a welder and also cover the head so you don't get any debris in there.

The reason the bolts are breaking in the first place is because you're re-using your old bolts. They're stretched and weakened. Go get a set of new cam cap bolts.

other info: the engine is out its on an engine stant, just fyi..
ill try seing if i cn use pliers to see what i can grab, then ill try dill and extractor since i dont have a welder, but i like the nut idea, nice reverse engineering. ill let ya know how it goes..crosses fingers and other apendages

Welding a nut around it is the best and easiest solution by far. I tried to back it out tap etc etc and finally gave up and half assed a nut on there since I can't weld at all, and it worked easily lol. Although I didn't get the head resurfaced and so the car never worked anyways :wallbash

I guess the next obvious question is - where do you get replacement cam cap bolts? And should these bolts only be used once, and then replaced?

Originally posted by ez
I guess the next obvious question is - where do you get replacement cam cap bolts? And should these bolts only be used once, and then replaced?

I think ARP sells a stud kit for this. Otherwise, you could go to the dealership.

I might also suggest soaking the threads with some PB Blaster overnight before trying things. :shrug

Originally posted by DR1665

Originally posted by ez I guess the next obvious question is - where do you get replacement cam cap bolts? And should these bolts only be used once, and then replaced?

I think ARP sells a stud kit for this. Otherwise, you could go to the dealership. I might also suggest soaking the threads with some PB Blaster overnight before trying things. :shrug

ARP sells replacement cam tower bolts, not studs.

I have them and they were $215.95 at Summit Racing.

Originally posted by eclipse982nrRST

ARP sells replacement cam tower bolts, not studs. I have them and they were $215.95 at Summit Racing.


Mike, ARP does make a cam tower stud kit for our cars. You can get them at http://www.modernperformance.com/dcx/oneclipse.shtml and some other places.

well i got them out, thanx guys! BUT, on of the cam bearing got a slight scratch what should i do?

polish/sand it smooth. with a really really really fine paper. 1000 grit and up just to get rid of the high spot. that would be my suggestion. don't take too much material away or there will not be good lubricating properties with different tolerances

Originally posted by fastmaxxcooper
polish/sand it smooth. with a really really really fine paper. 1000 grit and up just to get rid of the high spot. that would be my suggestion. don't take too much material away or there will not be good lubricating properties with different tolerances

use maybe 1200 and some wd40

We carry the ARP cam tower bolts, also if you need a few oem ones i should have a ton of them here, let me know and ill give you as many as you need for free...

Originally posted by ConceptIllusions
We carry the ARP cam tower bolts, also if you need a few oem ones i should have a ton of them here, let me know and ill give you as many as you need for free...

i could use some spare ones for free for my 2.0L head :)

Send me an email mitsutech@cimotorsports.net Let me know what you need!

sorry, off topic a bit.
But, Mike, I could use a different cylinder head.
Reply to my emails please.


--------------------------------------
know me as santiago
boosted 420a and ej2o..(my 2liter v8 eaters)

hey CI, i could use acouple to if you don't mind. I broke one off awhile ago and i threw in a bolt from the hardware store just to get my car home and it would be nice to have acouple of spares.


thanks,
kevin
susafuss00@comcast.net