The 352 in my 'bird has a cracked exhaust manifold. What methods have you guys had success with getting the top bolts out WITHOUT breaking them. I haven't even tried yet do to all the horror stories I've heard about them breaking!!!
You probably don't want to hear this...but I had some so rusty on a 1958 352 that I had to remove the head and put it in a mol***es bath to remove the rust and then was able to get them free.But you might try the melted wax method if you can get it in there.Wax will run through the threads if you heat it up and that sometimes will allow it to get unstuck.
I actually put the torch to my 352 bolts (red hot) and then let them cool. I sprayed them with pb blaster every day for a week and then did it all over again. They came loose fortunately. On a set of 390 heads I had i just gave up, snapped them off and let the machine shop deal with them. I don't guess there is a perfect answer for this.
There are several tips to get them to break free. Not meaning that they will all work, but if you use ALL of them, you will have a muich better chance of getting them out without breaking them. Here is ther list I know of. Some of them may or may not ber possible on every application but try what you can. Of course a good oil like PB Blaster should accompany all of these methods. 1. Try to loosen, then tighten, then loosen use. 2. If it does start to turn, it will get tighter as the rust jambs the threads. Don't keep loosening it as it gets harder. Stop, retighten until it's easy and the rust is worked out, THEN reloosen. 3. A good sharp whack with a hammer on the end of the bolt will sometimes shock the rusty threads loose. 4. Some heat will help, try loosening them when the engine is hot. 5. A lot of heat will usually work 99% of the time. Heat the part cherry red and whiloe it is still hot, THEN loosen it while it is still hot. It will creak and moan but this method will take off tons of stuck stuff.
******* Ford & James, yer on it. I finally had a local shop I deliver to help out, having lived through this before. I made it through the first coupla bolts on my '68 flatbed, then snap. The machine shop wined n dine the remaining drivers' side out, but could tell early on the p***. side is purty welded on from Time. Good thing the drivers' side was the more immeadiately problem (cracked exh mani, replaced that with a '65 TBird mani. Will do the same for the other side when the time comes, but will prob'ly just rebuild spare heads for both sides, at that point, since guaranteed I'll hafta take the p***. side head off to replace the exhaust). BTW, Permatex sells a metal fill for such cracks that works real well. I can get you some if you have a hard time finding it. Might be easier just to do that. Let us know how it goes, you could be our new hero!
Almost every set of F-E heads I get in the shop to work on has at least 2 bolts broke off for me to extract. My favorite is when the do-it-yourselfers break an easy-out off in the bolt. I can p*** this advice on along with the key word of PATIENCE is that when you get the the bolts out and the threads repaired have the machine shop mill the exhaust surface flat !! You'll be glad you did !!! >>>>.
These are the ones that gave me grief, heat, PB and time. Just like EP500 and others have said patience is the key. I sprayed them with primer only to see the cracks better. Asmentioned before a tap with a hammer can help as well.
I concur... LOTS of heat on the bolts & head and Marvel Mystery Oil is how I did it. (Oh yeah, it might catch fire too so be ready for it Got all but one out using this method on a 352 that I got roped into working on the other day. The one that broke off flush we drilled out carefully & ran a tap through to clean up the threads... Use plenty of heat & patience, good Vise Grips, sharp drill bits, and your favorite penetrating oil... Best of Luck!!!
Every response on this thread is correct. I had the same issue on my 63 galaxie. I sprayed them with pb blaster everyday for about a week and then heated the hell out of them until they were red hot. Lucked out and got them all out without breaking any. I've never used the wax idea, but I've heard that really works.
good luck - I have three F350's all with 390's...tops are the only ones that give me prob's...after they break off - I just drill'em out and bolt'r back down...hate to bust down a good running block....
I heated the bolt and the manifold. I wanted the heat to carry into the threads in the head. I heated and sprayed them each day. Don't know if I was supposed to or not but it worked. I didn't spray PB on a hot bolt though, I waited until it cooled and what was left burned off the next day on the next cycle.
Now that you posted a pic and it looks like you have plenty of room in the engine bay and the manifolds are already **** !! I would put a small diameter cut-off wheel in a die grinder and just cut the head of the bolts off and then just remove the broken part of the manifold and leave as much of the bolt still in the head. Once you get all of the manifold off remove the plug wires and heat the stem of the bolt red *** hot. Then quench the bolt with penetrating oil as this will shrink the bolt and help it break free of the threads. Be careful at this point of fire flare up. Then heat the exhaust flange around the bolt threads and quench with penn oil again. Vise grips on the bolt and do the tighty loosey thing to start backing it out. With any luck this will work. Good Luck >>>>.
EP5X, I already got those out. I only posted them for the OP. I wish that I had your advice when I was doing it though!! I was running blind. I hope this helps someone!
Before trying heat/penetrating oil, try this: Use a large drift punch, and a big hammer. Smack the head of the bolt straight on with the punch and a few solid whacks. Then give the wrench a turn and see what happens. Usually you'll be surprised how effortlessly it comes loose. If not, keep trying a few more times before you try soaking in penetrating oil...repeat the hammer/punch. If no success, bring out the heat.
Don't even try to remove the factory bolts until you have a 6 point socket. A 12 point socket or box end wrench is flirting with disaster until the bolt has broken loose. The factory bolts have a recess in the middle of the bolt head. They love to round off leaving very little for a tool to grip on. I use a torch to get the ear on the head cherry red and then immediately use a 6 point socket to break them loose. Once it's broken and cooled, I use penetrating oil after they are broken loose to keep the bolt from seizing and snapping off on the way out. Heating the ear of the head causes the hole to expand which loosens the hold. Ideally you only want to heat the ear and not the bolt that is why you need to act quickly when the ear gets cherry red. If you dilly dally the heat will migrate into the bolt. You want a temp differential between the bolt and the head with the head being the highest expanding more than the bolt. If the bolts come all the way through the flange with threads showing, wire brush the exposed threads. The rust scale on the threads can wedge in the threads as they are backed through the bolt hole even after they have broken loose. I've done my share of FE manifolds and I hated every one of them.
I have use all the methods posted and it seems heating the bolt and top flange of the head worked the best for me on several motors. When hot I hit the bolt head with a ballpean a few times then let it cool down and give it a try. Getting the head flange close to red then turning the bolt was the most effective. To prevent this from happening again I always replaced the bolts with stainless and antiseeze-Never had any more fe exhaust bolt problems.
My first machinist job was in a shop that regularly rebuilt pump that had been exposed to some corrosive environments. Heat was an indispensable tool. However, I learned to heat the bolt first in an effort to expand it to crush the rust, then monitor the cool down and at just the right time apply a solvent, the sudden cooling would draw the liquid into the threads. This may be followed by more solvent, some tapping on the bolt head, etc. Then for the final hooray, and as has already been suggested, heat the casting trying to keep the bolt cool and use a six pointer on it. Once it is broken loose, use plenty of solvent and patience, working it both ways. A point not brought up yet (but covered at great length in another thread); Whatever solvent you choose to use works better with some Acetone mixed in, as it is thinned and really has a good ability to creep in to those threads. This should probably be avoided during the hot phases, but use your discretion.
If the bolts broken off flush with the surface, center punch and drill a smallish hole through the bolt. I usually put some kind of penetrant in the hole so it can get to the bottom of the threads. Now take your trusty TIG welder and weld a nub on the remains of the bolt that in the head. Grab the nub with large vice grips and back out the bolt. Some time the nub twists off but you can always weld on another one. This will work when someone has broken off an easy out in the hole.
That's not a pic of mine but it might as well be because mine is broke in the same place. Its in a 60 'bird and there is plenty of room around it also so I may just go ahead and cut or break the manifold from around it. I was gonna do this today but found out my acetylene bottle is empty. I appreciate the info guys and I'll keep ya'll posted. Maybe even post a pic or two. Thanks
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