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Exhaust bolts

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

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I did a search and dint really come up with anything on here that was posted in past.......anyway, 4 outta eight of my bolts broke. All of them on the one side. The toher side wehre almost hand tight. Anway I got one out, the toher three are going to be harder as there is ntohing i can grab onto. I have some ez outs.... And reverse bits...... and a torch..... and the bolts have been sitting in liquid wrench.. Anyone got any special tips? I dont have a welder otehr wise i would do that.

And another thing. one guy told me i can get it pretty much as i hot as i want with the tourch , cause your engine gets that hot anyway.... however doesnt the fact that its not heated evenly make the difference. How much heat can be applied?

ben
 
Gets as hot as what kind of torch? If you're using acetylene you have the capability to melt steel, and these things are just aluminum. A propane torch is pretty tame, but maybe uneven heating IS an issue, especially around gasket areas?
 
exhaust bolts

exhaust bolts

Ben, you can use an acetylene torch on the bolts, just make sure that you use a small tip like an 001. Keep your heat down and heat only the bolts, not the surrounding aluminum. Heat the bolts until they are glowing red, the aluminum transfers heat very well , so it will spread the heat out over a large area fairly quickly so you should not have to worry about warping. Once you have the bolt glowing remove the heat and quench it quickly using compressed air and a blow gun.when it's cool you should be just about able to remove the broken bolts with your fingers. I used this method when I broke the bolt holding one of my bar end weights to the clip on for my 1150, which is aluminum and it worked just fine.
Doze.
 
AH!...........broken exhaust bolts.

Word to the wise!

If there is nothing sticking out, you are probably screwed.

Your choices

1. Stop now...remove the head
bring it too a machine shop, get the studs milled out, replace bolts with proper exhaust studs
new valve cover and head gasket
Total cost, around $150

2. Try drilling into the bolt on centre without going into the aluminum and using an easyout.

Scenario 1, you get the stud out
Scenario 2, you break an easy out inside the hole
resort to 1. but it can not be milled out, must be EDM out, add an additional $200-300 for set up and EDM work, plus the possibitity of helicoiling each EDM hole at about 10-15 bucks a pop.

3. Try putting a slot with a dremel and turning it out using heat, you might get lucky.

Just avoid using hardened things like screw extractors, if they break it will cost you a fortune on Electrical Discharge Machining.

Good Luck!

8) Andre 8)
 
i work accros the road from a bike shop. i remove broken bolts all the time you do not need to remove the head just take it to a good welder .they will be able to weld it out, my best save so far was a very expensive falicon crank 3/8"diameter hole on end 1 1 /4"inch deep was a end of a broken bolt .i got it out with the crank still in the bike saved him major $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Mark
 
I'll go along with Dr Dre on this one, as the good doctor points out, there's no point in trying easy-outs, they just aren't up to removing mild steel bolts that have chemically welded themselves into an aluminium head.

I had exactly the same problem a year or so ago, and after using heat from my oxy-acetylene torch, quenching it with penetrating fluid, breaking off an easy-out, trying a different type of easy-out (can't remember the brand name but they were a quality brand tool) and breaking that too, mig welding a stud to the remains of one bolt that, unlike the rest didn't break off flush with the top of the thread in the head and breaking the weld when I put some force on it, I took the head off and drilled out the four broken bolts and heli-coiled all the 8 threads. When I put it all together again, I used stainless steel allen bolts with a dab of anti-sieze compound and have had no problems since.

If you're lucky enough to get those suckers out without removing the head, well done, but personally, I'd take the good doctor's advice and do it right first time and save yourself some heart-ache. Unlike any other kind of busted bolt, the exhaust bolts break as a result of electrolysis (not hair removal) setting in and chemically welding steel to aluminium. Only an extreme optimist, or someone who hasn't had this particular problem would suggest that this is an easy fix. Good luck!
 
lol well all good points... my patience in waiting for responces got the better of me. I got one out with vise grips and heat> A 2nd one with enough sticking out , currently has a weld on top and the weld just broke. I have finally gotten a 3rd drilled and ready to see if the threads well clean out with a tap and the 4th has a broken ez out.. but I have broken over 4 eazy outs on two bolts..... Ez outs ruled out for exhaust bolts from here on out for me lol. oh well, live and learn :D
 
Good to know I'm not the only one who has busted off extractors inside a bolt. I had never really thought of the steel welding to the aluminum.

Michael
 
I feel bad for you guys. I had the head pop off of one of my exhaust bolts and I rode through snow all winter before I used an ez-out to remove it. The thing hadn't even began to rust, it came out by hand. Gotta love that. :)

Steve
 
I agree with Andre' been there done that, bought the T-shirt. Took my head down to a machine shop, paid $75 to have them get it out, put a new one in with helicoils. Ain't worth crying about. Found a nut and bolt shop and got all new bolts then replaced them all and use a little Never-seize and lock washers to make damn sure that never happened again.
 
bolts

bolts

Always use anti-sieze on on any bolt going into aluminum, it saves a lot of headaches. Never use Loctite on a steel bolt going into aluminum, there is a chemical reaction that can cause the aluminum to come out with the bolt resulting in a very nice hole with no threads.
 
Six months after replacing my trouble free plated exhaust bolts with stainless I decided to change the manifold gaskets. Oh my God where those SS bolts ever stuck! There wasn't any corrosion on them but they were real squeekers and I thought they'd break before I got them out. For whatever reason they were sticking to the two holes that had been helicoiled but not the origional holes. The anti-seize is deffinately a necessity even with SS hardware. It was probably the leaking exhaust gases that caused the problem in the first place but it could have been avoided.

Cheers, Steve
 
i too had an exhaust bolt break off inside the head. Took and ez out to it and broke that inside the bolt. What ended up working was taking a dremel tool with a carbide bit and slowly chewing away at the broken ez out. After that i carefully drilled the bolt out and cleaned the threads with the right size tap. Luckily i only had one brake off and for now on when i get a bolt out i use some antisieze on it.
 
The best way to get out a busted bolt if there is some left sticking out is to use a small pipe wrench on it. The wrench bites way better than vise grips and it does NOT slip if you set it correctly. I have used it to get out studs that were seized (not seriously, though) and a 6mm screw set with red Loctite that chewed out the head using an impact driver.

Mark
 
srivett said:
Six months after replacing my trouble free plated exhaust bolts with stainless I decided to change the manifold gaskets. Oh my God where those SS bolts ever stuck! There wasn't any corrosion on them but they were real squeekers and I thought they'd break before I got them out. For whatever reason they were sticking to the two holes that had been helicoiled but not the origional holes. The anti-seize is deffinately a necessity even with SS hardware. It was probably the leaking exhaust gases that caused the problem in the first place but it could have been avoided.

Cheers, Steve
Click to expand...

Steve, Stainless Steel will seize, especially under high temperature conditions, with aluminum, mild steel and several other dissimilar metals...I always avoid SS on the exhaust bolts and use hi-temp Never Seize.

Also, avoid using SS bolts in mild steel if you are riding near salt water. I learned that the hard way when I was in the Coast Guard.

Hap
 
I had about 4 exhaust header bolts break when i overhauled my 83 gsx. They looked like they'd been left int he sea for a year or two!.
anyways, a guy i knew at work got them out for me using a tig welder to weld a bit of bar to the broken studs, needed a few goes each but worked a treat - kinda strange to see the remains of a stud glowing red hot down in the head!.
Oh yeah, my mate did se to work on formula 1 race engines and gearboxes, so was pretty skilled at extracting seized studs!
 
I have a strange problem in the other direction- I replaced all my exhaust bolts with nice socket cap bolts and used anti-seize. Now the friggin' bolts loosen up every 50 miles! I am beginning to like the idea of exhaust studs.
 
Getting bolts to stick

Getting bolts to stick

When I used to have bolts on my bicycle that wouldn't stick I would put a dab of nail polish on them. Not on the threads but where the bolt head hits metal. It would keep the bolt from twisting in place but didn't stick enough that it took any more effort to remove. Luckily all my friends in high school also had nail polish in their tool kits so nobody questioned my having a bottle.




I am new to motorcycles so there is a great deal of not knowing what I am talking about with this suggestion.
 
Loose bolts

Loose bolts

Jethro said:
I have a strange problem in the other direction- I replaced all my exhaust bolts with nice socket cap bolts and used anti-seize. Now the friggin' bolts loosen up every 50 miles! I am beginning to like the idea of exhaust studs.
Click to expand...

Did you intall new lock washers? The reason I ask is that I did the same as you, except I installed lock washers and I haven't noticed a problem. Did you use the black socket caps or stainless?
 
Re: Loose bolts

Re: Loose bolts

retrex said:
Jethro said:
I have a strange problem in the other direction- I replaced all my exhaust bolts with nice socket cap bolts and used anti-seize. Now the friggin' bolts loosen up every 50 miles! I am beginning to like the idea of exhaust studs.
Click to expand...

Did you intall new lock washers? The reason I ask is that I did the same as you, except I installed lock washers and I haven't noticed a problem. Did you use the black socket caps or stainless?
Click to expand...

That's it mate, I used stainless everything (those black buggers'll rust if you hold 'em in your sweaty palm too long) including new spring washers and of course, anti-sieze compound, and last night I dropped the exhaust (race pipe) to do it's annual oil and filter change in preparation for Summer (Spring here in Oz now) and they all came out beautifully! Cheers, Terry. :twisted:
 
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