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Carb - Broken Bolt


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Hello All,<P>This does not seem to be my year. You may recall my post a few months ago with a broken bolt on my water pump. Well now its the carb bolts turn to be a PITA. One of the two front base bolts on the carb snapped.<BR>Does anyone know what these look like ?? Based on the piece that broke off it looks like a normal 1/2" hex from the top - but the shaft looks to be extremely thin. Is it that mine has rotted away with the years or are these really very thin bolts ???<P>I have a 401 eng - 2 bbl.<P>Thanks<P>Thanks

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Guest Skyking

Ira, the bolt in question is a 5/16-18. I broke one on my 401 also and had to drill and use an easy-out to remove it. It wasn't that hard to do.....Good Luck!

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If you go the easy-out route BE CAREFUL. It does not take to much force to break them and if you do - they don't drill out. They are made of some very hard steel.

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Well - Now I have 2 broken.<BR>Both of ones on the front of the base.<BR>From the looks of them though - I never stood a chance no matter how long I soaked. They virtually crumbled in my fingers and the shaft is withered away to something very thin. They are in such poor shape that I might be able to "disintegrate" the remaining portion with a regular drill bit.<P>I'll let you know how it works out !<p>[ 07-28-2002: Message edited by: Ira ]

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I always see something like this as an excuse to upgrade to a new intake and carb!<P>I've heard of left handed drill bits also, to drill prior to the EZ Out. Sometimes these bits will actually back the screw out for you. A standard twist drill bit can actually make the busted bolt tighten up further.<BR>Also, he was right about not breaking the EZ Out--the only substance on earth harder than a diamond is a busted EZ Out!<BR>-Brad

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  • 2 weeks later...

After a bit of a hiatus - I'm back at trying to remove the bolts. I bought an extractor kit from Sears - which I do not reccommend. The things dont work. Basically - they drilled off the stub that was sticking out and also began to remove a bit of the bolt from insie the manifold. These are supposed to be extracors - but they behave like ordinary reverse thread bits - and they were more than $40 - definitely going back.<P>Now I'm pretty much left with only one option - to drill out the remaining bolts from the intake manifold. The one on the right concerns me a bit. The way the manifold is constructed it passes through the manifold and extends through to the inside - which means that as I drill it out - all of the iron filings are going to drop inside the intake manifold. I'm not a mechanic - but that doesn't sound like a good thing to me. The one on the left is not constructed like this so I should be okay.<P>What I'd really like to do is pull the intake off and take it to a shop & have it drilled, retapped & washed - but given my miserable luck with removing bolts - I'm not going anywhere near the 8 that secure the intake !!! Not unless the thing cracks in half !!<P>Anyone out there have any experience with this ?? All suggestions are appreciated.<P>Ira

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At any point have you used a torch?? I have a MAPP gas one that I bought at Home Depot for about $40. I have used it numerous times. Push a button - it lights. Always heat around the bolt, and I have heard to heat - throw cold water - heat - throw cold water is a good method. If you don't have this torch - get it.<P>I don't have any experience with drilling out broken bolts. I tried to get one of them out with an "easy-out" but did not have any luck. It broke - and then your dead.

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