Removing rusted/broken bolts in aluminum intake?

[kholding]

I just picked up a Lightning upper and lower intake but the bolts holding the EGR onto the upper are completely rusted in there. One broke already. I don't want to mess this thing up. What is the best way to get these things out?

 

[DJs74]

What I would try:

I would first soak the remaining studs with a good penetrating oil (PB Blaster, etc) and let sit for a couple of hours or overnight

thread two nuts onto each stud and tighten them against each other so you basically created a bolt. Try to obtain an impact wrench so you have some vibration present and bump the trigger - not wide open.

the vibration in conjunction with the penetrating oil should try to loosen them up

I don't know about heat?? You have to be careful with aluminum because it could distort

For the broken one - drill a hole dead center and fill it up with penetrating oil. You can try an easy out or you may have to get a machine shop to assist on that one

I'm sure you will get more suggestions, but that's what I would try


Good luck

DJs74

 

[cldonley]

First of all, those are studs and I wouldn't take them out at all. Clean 'em up and chase the threads with a die if you need to but don't take them out. Then, as DJ said above, soak the broken one with PB blaster or Mouse Milk. If you can't get the broken one out with an easy out then you'll need to gradually step drill up until it will come out. I've actually drilled em until you could almost peel them out. Here's the deal though. If you have to keep drilling, make sure you drill down the dead center, 90 degrees (perpendicular) to the surface. Even if you have to drill out the threads you can fix it with a helicoil. If you've never used one, with a helicoil you oversize the hole, tap it, and insert a coil that looks much like a spring that brings the hole back down to the original size and threadpitch. You can get them at the NAPA store or Fastenal. We use them to repair threads in aircraft engines all the time. I used one to repair the threads in a 302 rear main bearing bolt hole before and then put another 100k miles on the motor. There are lots of videos on youtube that will show you how to install them. Good luck!

 

[broncnaz]

As was said soak them then double nut them. the impact idea may not work so well as the nuts will probably just back off the stud. but you can try and as was said dont hit it to hard you could break the manifold.
I would try a little heat(butane torch) on the manifold where the bolts are threaded in dont heat the bolts just the aluminum it should expand enough so the bolts loosen.

 

[kholding]

Thanks everyone. I have this same upper intake on my bronco now and they aren't studs, but I see how these could be on this one. I will try some of the suggestions and see how I do. Like I said, just worried about messing this thing up.

 

[TwoDalesDad]

I believe the propane torch is the best method to release rusted bolts....If you heat the metal around the hole....spritz with KRIOL....ORANGE CAN......WORKS EVERYTIME...

 

[red hot71]

I would first try to save the 3 studs left and drill and tap out the old remands of the 4th. Another question I have is does the EGR slide over these studs making them a lot longer, and if so is the EGR seized on the studs now?

But if you got to remove all of the them I've had some good luck first putting a washer on then screwing a nut down and welding the nut on. It puts a ton of heat into the stud were you want it. The problem with trying to heat the area around the stud is the aluminum is a big heat sink and you can never get it hot enough to do what you want.

But again I'd first start with the broken one to see what kind of luck you're going to have drilling and taping. The key hear is to get the pilot hole dead center in the stud, start with smaller drill bits and work up to the size just smaller than the inside of the threads. At that point the old threads can almost be pick out. If it turns out to be a real pane save the 3 studs at all cost.

 

[JohnJohn]

if you’re not going to keep the EGR plate, I would cut it off the bolts with a cut off disk on an angle grinder. Once the EGR plate is of you will have less stuff holding on to the bolts going into the intake and you may have better luck getting them out.
I left my EGR plate on and just used an EGR sensor block off plate to avoid the pain in removing the EGR plate from the upper.

 

[Rustytruck]

I believe the propane torch is the best method to release rusted bolts....If you heat the metal around the hole....spritz with KRIOL....ORANGE CAN......WORKS EVERYTIME...

This is the way I do it. heat with propane torch then remove flame and spray down with P.B. Blaster. Use a penetrant not WD-40. Then heat again and spray down again. Do this about 6 times and then hit it with a hard plastic mallet when warm and see if it cracks loose. If not do it all again. Then if it doesnt let loose spray it and let it sit over night and start again the next day. Have patience and let the chemicals do their job. with enough heating and cooling cycles and a can of penetrant you will eventually get it loose. It just may not happen today or tomorrow. Once you get it loose then start spraying from the back side too. Remember the penetrants are extremely flamable and flair up when the torch flame hits it. Heat the area of the studs not the whole egr plate.
so be prepaired and do this torch work where safe. Those studs go straight through the egr plate. Once you get the plate off you can deal with the broken stud.

 

[patterdale]

This is the way I do it. heat with propane torch then remove flame and spray down with P.B. Blaster. Use a penetrant not WD-40. Then heat again and spray down again. Do this about 6 times and then hit it with a hard plastic mallet when warm and see if it cracks loose. If not do it all again. Then if it doesnt let loose spray it and let it sit over night and start again the next day. Have patience and let the chemicals do their job. with enough heating and cooling cycles and a can of penetrant you will eventually get it loose. It just may not happen today or tomorrow. Once you get it loose then start spraying from the back side too. Remember the penetrants are extremely flamable and flair up when the torch flame hits it. Heat the area of the studs not the whole egr plate.
so be prepaired and do this torch work where safe. Those studs go straight through the egr plate. Once you get the plate off you can deal with the broken stud.

This method should work well. You want to heat the aluminum only and spray the PB on the bolt/stud. What this does (heat) is expand the aluminum and the PB cools the stud down (contracts it) The chemical action doesn't hurt either. Drilling dead center with left handed (reverse bits) works well also. Sometimes when you get close to the original bolt diameter they will spin right out. The idea is to get as much metal out as possible before using the easy out. Less chance of breaking the easy out.