Projects 61 catalina

left exhaust studs broke off flush -weld a nut on ?

 

Is there any way to drill and use an easy out? Since it's a Pontiac and the exhaust ports point downward towards the frame probably not. The hard option is to remove the intake and valley pan to pull the head and take to a machine shop to have them drilled out. However being it's a Pontiac you don't have to remove the distributor and it's a pretty straight forward, easy removal. I'm a Pontiac guy and love playing with Poncho engines so any help you need I'll do whatever I can to help you. Dil

 

Don't weld, you might accidentally weld the nut to the cylinder head. Do what superchargedill says. If you are lucky you might be able to reach the forward studs on the left bank, from underneath the car - if your fuel pump does not get in the way.

 

You can do it from under the car. A lift is very handy or just pull the manifold and get it out where you can work on it. Yes you can build up the stud with weld, weld a washer and nut onto it. I like to let the stud cool and get the cast iron around the broken stud red hot with a torch before trying to remove the welded broken stud. Once it moves you're golden.

If you need to remove the other nuts, get them cherry red before you try to loosen them. Then heat the manifold around the stud to a cherry red and use a Sears type stud remover. Did many of them.