In pulling my intake in preparation for the SP3 going on soon. I found that someone had broken an intake bolt off. 3rd from the front on Drivers side. So, I have that to remove it. I have a question too actually 2. Are the intake bolts wet or dry? meaning any go into a water passage. Are some of the intake bolt threads supposed to be covered in oil? I found a few that came out all oily? Thanks. Tim
No not in water oil could be just where it had leaked in. Pull intake off and see if you can get broken bolt out. It does not take much Tq. to hold down bolts 35 I think for stock so not that tight. Water could have leaked to that area but I would have thought first two would do that. Probably going to need penetrating oil
Intake bolt holes are not always blind, but the ones that are not never go into coolant unless they where drilled out once before and the drill went too deep. If a recall right on a 350 head only the two center bolt holes on each side of the Exh crossover can get oil on them and therefore should be put in with sealant to stop weeping, but really they should all get sealant just to stop rain water splash from rusting them in as you have experienced.
put some penetrating oil for awhile. give a few light shocks to shake up the threads. buy a left hand. i had it where just drilling with a left drill the bolt came out on the drill. if it doesn't come out, it easy out time. those aren't humongous tight. should come out.
Ugh... Easy outs are never easy...and I'm a machinist. One way I've had really good luck with is this. Let's say you've got a 3/8-16 bolt broken off. Take a 3/16 allen wrench, or better yet, an allen socket or a short piece of an allen wrench that you cut off and can get a regular socket on. DO NOT USE A BALL END ALLEN WRENCH. The ball will break off and you will have worse problems than a broken bolt(but not as bad as a broken easy out, lol) and measure across the tips of the 3/16 hex, which should be about 0.216. Drill a hole with a slightly smaller bit(like a #7,8,or 9, or maybe a 13/64) and hammer the Allen wrench(short end, with the long end positioned so that you can turn it) or the Allen socket or the cut off length of an old Allen wrench into the hole. The corners of the hex *should* dig into the hole you drilled and you should be able to spin the broken bolt out. DO spray the threads of the broken bolt with penetrating fluid. The act of hammering the Allen wrench (or piece of one) and the penetrating fluid should be enough to get it out. The guy at work that showed me this trick said it has almost always worked and very rarely has it not worked. Since he showed me how to do it, I don't think I've run into any that it hasn't worked. One important thing about this trick is, don't drill the hole too big. There has to still be a thick wall of metal in the broken bolt so that you don't expand the metal of the bolt and make it tighter. If it's too thin, it will expand easier. If the hole is too small for the Allen wrench you will use, you won't be able to hammer it in. It is a little easier to hammer in if you grind a small chamfer or bevel on the end of the hex. Hope this isn't too confusing the way I explained it. If you have any questions, ask and I'll try to explain it better. This way is similar to an easy out, but the easy out tends to almost swage or expand the broken bolt making it even tighter. If you can, put some heat on the broken bolt and spray it down with penetrating fluid while it's hot. The fluid will wick into the threads faster. You might get lucky and the bolt may start spinning once you start drilling. Good luck.
retired r&d/exp machinist. dealt with all the ugly material. broken bolts in moly or waspalloy was always fun in expensive parts.
Well got it out. Welded a nut to it and just eased it out. She is about ready for the SP3 when it gets here tomorrow. Tim
