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So I swapped intakes on my car and one of the throttle body bolts snapped off on the upper plenum of the intake. Any old timey tricks to get it out? (the intake is aluminum)
We just went through this with the exhaust manifolds for my camaro. When my son removed them, all the bolts broke off. We tried everything. All we accompished was breaking them off more. I thought maybe we could drill the core out of the bolts and then collapse them. Drilling was next to impossible becuase those bolts are so hard. Besides with drilling, you will then have to tap new threads and probably change the bolt size. On top of that, one of my brothers told me that since the aluminum heads had overheated, even if we got the bolts out, we may find the holes no longer line up. I am not sure this makes any sense, but I still considered it, that brother is a genius and worked for GM for a time (not really sure what he did, some form of testing engines, but he is not an engineer). Sometimes he says things that seem to be complete nonsense and they turn out to be true.
Finally we found some new replacement exhaust manifolds for $150 and just replaced them. It simply was not worth the amount of time and work to get the bolts out.
The other night on that gold rush guy show a bolt broke off in a dozer and the mechanic drilled the broken piece all the way through then lubed it so the threads would get a coat, then spot welded a rod to it and was able to unscrew the broken piece out. I thought that was pretty neat. Your problem of course is different and aluminum may be more problems. I think drilling it out very carefully might be your only route. It is a delicate process not to wreck the threads. maybe you can remove the upper plenum and bring it in to your work bench where you will have more control insted of leaning over.
I feel for ya and hopefully a wise mechanic will have a old timey solution for you.
Good luck
I have broken spark plugs before and removed them by tack welding a junk screw driver or a piece of rod to them. You can also try the route of soak -> drill -> EZ-out. I have broken quite a few ez-outs. They certainly are not easy to work with as the name suggests.
If you only broke one, then get a small drill bit (cobalt or better) and drill a hole in the center of the broken bolt. Buy a bolt extractor, it has threads that are the reverse of the bolt, so as you screw it in to tighten it inside the hole you drilled, the bolt will back out.
Should be fairly easy to do, as a intake manifold bolt isn't anywhere near as hard to remove as an old rusted exhaust bolt, and probably has a fairly low torque spec as well.
The key is to make sure you drill exactly in the center of the bolt and go slow so you don't screw up your aluminum plenum.
Did you snap it off during installation or removal?
If it was during installation you can probably get it out using an easy-out. If it was during removal it will probably be a bigger deal, many of the suggestions already posted will work.
The other night on that gold rush guy show a bolt broke off in a dozer and the mechanic drilled the broken piece all the way through then lubed it so the threads would get a coat, then spot welded a rod to it and was able to unscrew the broken piece out. I thought that was pretty neat. Your problem of course is different and aluminum may be more problems. I think drilling it out very carefully might be your only route. It is a delicate process not to wreck the threads. maybe you can remove the upper plenum and bring it in to your work bench where you will have more control insted of leaning over.
I feel for ya and hopefully a wise mechanic will have a old timey solution for you.
Good luck
Saw some mechanics do the same (drill and weld in a bolt) when I was in the service. It does work. Only thing is I only saw them use that method on larger bolts or studs. Agree, it's a lot easier to work on a bench when possible. Like another said, when all else fails, drill it out and either tap the hole for a slightly larger bolt or use a heli coil.
1 - Kroil penetrating oil
2 - Heat from a heat gun (no flame)
3 - Center punch the broken bolt and drill an 1/8 inch hole all the way through
4 - #1 again
5 - Drill a larger hole with a left handed bit, drill set to reverse
Bit will catch on bolt and back it out. Works most every time.
If you only broke one, then get a small drill bit (cobalt or better) and drill a hole in the center of the broken bolt. Buy a bolt extractor, it has threads that are the reverse of the bolt, so as you screw it in to tighten it inside the hole you drilled, the bolt will back out.
Should be fairly easy to do, as a intake manifold bolt isn't anywhere near as hard to remove as an old rusted exhaust bolt, and probably has a fairly low torque spec as well.
The key is to make sure you drill exactly in the center of the bolt and go slow so you don't screw up your aluminum plenum.
The extractors are not fun to work with, even for an experienced repairman. IF you break the extractor then the intake is pretty much toast. Due to the hardness of the material they cannot be drilled out, at least with lack of a mill or high end drill press.
OP, another very good alternative would be to take it down to a local machine shop and let them deal with it. Probably would set you back $20 or so.
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