So I replaced the passenger side header with the Hedmann with no issues and went around to the drivers side. First 4 bolts came out with no issues. Went to the fifth one, you know the one directly in line with the steering box and managed to twist it off with a 3/8th's ratchet and 7/16th's socket below the head.

Frack. I can't get a drill in there for an easy out as I only have about 3 inches. Do I need to pull the motor down or should I pull the steering box out and use an angle drill or any other ideas?

Stop me from running a 5 lb sledge through the windshield, .

Eric

 

Can you remove just the head?

 

have you gotten the remaining bolts out so that the manifold comes off? If so, is there portion of the bolt sticking out? I've had good luck laying a next sized larger nut over the broken bolt, weld it good and it usually backs out...

 

ditto, IF you have a welder....if not try lots of pb blaster and vise grips to back it out if there is anything to grab onto, If not, I would pull the head and use the easy out.

 

No the old bolt broke off about a 1/16th inside the hole. The old header bolt had corroded so that the shaft was necked down to about 2/3rds the regular diameter. I think I am going to get a 90 degree drill and drill out the old bolt and tap the threads until all the old stuff comes out. The rest of the header is off, just the 1 stinken bolt broke off out of 16, grrrrrr......

A buddy of mine who works at Ryder suggested pulling the steering box to give me room, then drilling it out. Sounds like a plan.

Eric

 

Honestly, Pulling the head off would probably be easier than taking the steering box out, They aren't that hard to pull, and it would give you more room to work.

 

I hear you, but that head hasn't been off the motor since 1978 when it was rebuilt. I would just hate to have it all fubar'd up if there was a better/ less disruptive way to do it.

I will think about it overnight and see what I settle on, but at least with the head off I can get to everything easily.

Eric

 

Okay guys, its a bit different than I thought. After stripping all the old header gasket off, the broken off old header bolt sits proud of the head by about a 1/16th of an inch. I was able to start drilling a pilot hole using the flex adapter on my Dremel and a 1/8" bit and going through the inner fender. Its not lined up, but if I can get another 1/4" I can use the micro easy out I bought today. Man, those header bolts are tough stuff. I may need a cobalt drill bit to make any headway.

Its just soooooo tempting to bolt the new header in place without that missing bolt, but I know it will start leaking about 10 minutes after I start the truck and drive me nuts. Just so you guys know, the drivers side hedmann fits into place without any issues at all. It just slips right into place and clears everything. I am going to wrap some of the header with header wrap as it passes about half an inch from the steering box.

Sooooo, some hard frustrating work tomorrow to get out the last stud piece, then about 20 minutes later I will have the header in place and away we go.

Eric

 

Okay, so shoot me.

I went out and bought a Ridgid 90 degree drill and special head for $200. A bit specially designed for extracting broken off head bolts, 2 1/8" cobalt drill bits, a 9/64th's cobalt bit and went to work.

I was able to access the stud through the inner fender, but at a bit of an angle with my flex extension on my Dremel. I used the cobalt 1/8 bit and started drilling. After about 20 minutes I had a small pocket as a starting or pilot hole. Then I managed to wedge the 90 degree drill in there and get it into the pilot hole pretty well and started to drill ...... and drill ....... and drill ........ and drill, finally after about 90 minutes of off and on drilling I gave up. All I had managed to do was create a 9/64" pocket about an 1/8" down into the bolt. There just wasn't enough room to get a lot of pressure on the head of the drill and the freakin' bolt material was like kryptonite or something!

So rather than pull the head, which would be a pain as it is tucked under the brake booster a fair bit, I broke down and just installed the header with my spare Remflex carbon gasket. I read in the directions that came with the gasket that it only requires a bolt clamping load of between 14 and 18 ft lbs and the Hedmanns came with a thick single flange sooooo .....

Bolted everything back together again. Torqued the bolt heads on both sides of the broken off stud a bit more than recommended, hooked up the collector to my existing exhaust, crossed my fingers and fired it up. Everything was quiet. Drove the truck around and still quiet. Let it idle for about 15 minutes and shut it down. Let it sit for 30 minutes or until the pipes were cool, started it up again and still quiet. Going to cross my fingers and leave things like this for now as to repair the stud will mean that I have to strip off the top of the motor and I really dont feel like doing that right now.

Dig those Remflex gaskets. They seal up anything.

Eric