Broken exhaust manifold bolt in a 5.3 going into an OBS

[droopyzda1]

By the way, the arrow is pointing at a spot I was able to drill into.

[jansen]

Yes! (With a wire welder) Get a nut that is about the same size as the broke bolt and weld it to it. It will only weld to the broke bolt since you can't weld steel to aluminium. Welt until the inside of the nut is full to the top with weld. Give it a second to cool because if you start turning on it with a wrench when its cherry red the weld between the broke bolt and the nut will still be soft and just break off or gauld the alum threads. A trick I learned in auto machinist college was weld a nut to the broke off bolt, wait just a second till its no longer cherry red then squirt a little water on it to rapidly cool and shrink the broken bolt and it should come out. (With a stick welder) You can also use 1/16 stainless steel rods if using a stick welder. Weld a tit onto the end of the broke bolt then weld a flat washer to the tit you just welded to the bolt. Then weld a nut to the washer and wait for it to cool and the flux should chip off on its own as it cools, then back the bolt out. But from my experience as a welder/ machinist if the flux doesn't chip off on its own then the bolt won't come out.

[HPICamaroSS]

Welding a steel nut to it will work just fine. I had the same issue on the same bolt. All I did was weld a little nugget ontop of the brokenbolt first, then placed the nut over it, and filled the center of the nut with weld. Came right out and the weld wont stick to the head since they are aluminum.

[droopyzda1]

Thank for the replies. Unfortunately I have had a major set back. I am doing the swap at my old man's (dad) house cause I have not space in my driveway. Friday afternoon I swung by to see the motor & plan out the welding technique to remove the bolt. I saw the old man working on the motor ( I had told him about the issue. in which he kept saying to remove the head ). Anyhow, what I saw what he was doing freaked me out. He does not know about mechanics b any means and he had drilled holes all around the bolt and enlarged it about 5 times the bolt size and went straight thru to the water jacket !! I froze and him to stop. Now I have no choice but to remove the head ! I removed the head of the motor and went to the machine shop and they said it could be fixed but no garranties. Now I have to replace both heads cause UR not going to have a fresh new head and leave the other. I then called one of my craigslists contacts that I had bought some stuff left over from his swap and he had 2 extra heads laying around with the same casting number. I picked both of them up for $80. I then told the machine shop to just go ahead and rebuild the other 2 heads I had. That was yesterday and I should have them back this afternoon. I also ordered the head gaskets and the head bolts. I am just rebuilding the heads back to stock, after all this is a budget build with a $400 set back (after getting the heads, rebuilding them, new gaskets and bolts). Since I am off this week, I hope to have the engine and trans in the truck finally by Friday. I can not stay ticked off at the old man though, its been a father/son project and he has helped a lot. Letting me use the garage, helping remove the old motor, making a custom plate for the egr pipe on the exhaust manifold, ordering parts for me. Keep you guys posted.

[fordkiller91]

Just finish drilling the whole till you see no more bolt an just retap it. Alot easier and maybe cheaper