ok i have a 1987 v6 5 speed base camaro runs apsolutly great But my dad noticed i had a small exhaust leak and was due to the rusted bolts and some heads of the bolts on the manifollds were missing head of the bolt completely snapped off with bolt still there could of been like this for years we dont know anyways my dad decided to replace all the bolts well the store gave us wrong bolts and wrong gaskets are you freakin serious? how hard is it people? to top it off 2 bolts were so brittle they broke and now dad has to drill them out is this really happening? besides drilling and re-tapping anything else can be done? that easy out stuf never works for me now im sorry if i seem ticked but i am. and i dont care how cheap any car manufacter wants to be to save on cost some things like bolts shouldnt be made out of something taht can rust like that. stainless steel or brass i dont care if i was around back in the day i would of paid extra for god sake ok i vented any thoughts guys?

Im a salesman for the Fastenal Company. We dont specialize in car repair parts in any way but look online for your local store. They will get you grade 8 or stainless if you prefer. Problem with stainless is it depends on what your head is made of. Many people dont fully understand that when you add a stainless bolt to certain other metaloids it will actually speed up the process of oxidation or rust on the metal the stainless is in contact with.

Remember also that your car is 22 years old and unless it has little miles on it (doubtful) it has also a lot of wear and tear. That said, I do not envy you or your dad with removal of those bolts. The owner before you is the one you should be peaved at as he let that go to the point it is now. the bolts that GM used are the same type bolts that all the car makers used. Good luck and happy knuckle busting!

Be very very careful drilling out the bolts I had my bolt on the driverside break that holds the powersteering bracket to the manifold and I worked in a shop at the time and had all the tools I needed to do the job and the drill slipped and punctured the waterjacket in the head so I ended up putting JB weld in the hole and the broken bolt back in the JB weld and adding some coolant stop leak and it is still going after 3 yrs but I need to replace that head to be 100% sure it doesn't ever leak .

its just rediculous. they used 5/16 bolts?? tiny thin bolts to hold the manifolds no wonder the heads rusted n snapped off

and no one has them gotta wait till monday. its great how normal people cant do any projects until the weekend and then boom they were given the wrong parts and it cant be fixed untill after sunday how great is that

its happened to all of us but i dont understand how they can give you the wrong bolts and gaskets.

anyways i'll keep you guys up to date


my dad says one bolt is flush and the other had some sticking out he said he's gona try to the easy out thing first.

now this is just on the passenger side

we're not sure if we wana dare to try to take them on there. but i would like to repalce teh rusty bolts so im good for another 30 years.

how can you get these darn things out? would getting a torch and heating them up help or what?

i know that gm used this stuff on all cars. my point is that the bolts should be so thin and made of soemthing that can rust ever! but just one of those things that would be nice but nope

I have the same problem on my passenger's side, with the bolt having taken a chunk of the manifold with it at the top of the #5 cylinder. The problem isn't the bolts, it's the fact that a steel bolt holds a 500+ degree cast iron exhaust manifold against a 200 (give or take a few) degree cast iron block (cylinder head). The continued heating/cooling tends to weaken the bolts after a while. You may even run into the same problem with the flange studs. Also, if GM were to use, say, stainless bolts, the cost of each individual engine would rise a LOT... Just some food for thought.
With luck, you can get the others out. However, to get that broken bolt out of the head, depending on where it's broken, you might need to remove the whole head and drill it out (like I need to do.. ). Otherwise, you can carefully try to remove the other 5 bolts and the manifold before using vise-grips or the like on the shank of the bolt to twist it out. You might want to look at heating the area around the bolt to make it easier to get out.

i know the price would go up but if anything i wish it could of been an option you can order atleast


the extra price would of been worth saving the hassel and i do mean hassle of the problem i got now

also the stores taht gave us the wrong bolts they have no other option for my car which is obviously wrong i gota try elsewhere

I snapped a bolt on the passenger side manifold to Y-Pipe connection on the bottom side. I'm gonna drill it out in steps instead of the "easy out". At worst, I will have to run a bolt all the way through and secure on both ends.

I was toying with the idea of adding headers, but I am quite FEARFUL of the exhaust manifold bolts. They look horrible. I'm quite certain that at least one will snap if not more. I think I'll wait until I am prepared to remove both heads from the engine before I even consider going with headers. I can feel your pain! Keep us updated on your project.

The bolts they used are 8mm and if you have enough bolt to grab after removing the manifold heat the bolt as close to the head as possible and it should come out you can also heat it and rub a crayon on it by the head it should suck some of the melted crayon over the threads to lube it for removal . When you replace the bolts rub some copper antisieze on the threads and you should be good to go .

ok im calm,

but now the darn easy out broke flush inside the bolt hahhahahahaha i donmt know whther to laugh or to cry

dad want to try knockin the easy out loose


im already geting my mind ready to rip the whole thing apart and get the head off onto my bench vice


now from anyone who has done this do i have anymore stupid surprises like bolts that might snap?

i can get the top air manifold off no biggy but my concern is the head bolts they look pretty big and with enough torque i can get them out but those shouldnt snap right?

and aparrently theres no gaskets for the exahust manifolds i just hope the store gives me the right ones for evyething else if i need to rip it all apart

ok its offfical i gota rip it alllll apart. im annoyed cuz the engine turns on and runs great i dont wana mess with it.

but its gotab e done im gona spend all day tomorrow on my day off and see how far i can get gota remove air manifold the center manifold the passenger head then dril out the two snapped bolts

fun!!!!!! yay!!!! not!!!!!

Yeah have fun and the exhaust manifolds from factory were machine fit so if your gaskets fit right use them so you know you have a good seal .

ok everything is off the block,

had to take the heads to the dealer to drill. and shave the bottom of the heads. there 1 little bad spot that was black and might of been leaking oil.

anyways new fuel injectors coming in the mail today. 200 for them from doctor injector .com

and 75 bucks for a gasket kit, had to order.

im not paying 60 bucks for a fuel pressure regulator diaphram ill wait till it goes which might still be a very long time

but we did find some cracked hoses so we're gona go through and replace all those.

this car ran good before. but it better run even better now

gona clean the plenum and intake and everything else before bolting back on


i'll keep you updated the heads should be back today too and by next week this car should be back on the road

i saw this site and you posed a good question. so what do we use for best results when we are dealing with an iron block and iron heads?
thanks

there is nothing like a father son project - but it seems that all of your problems were created by good ole dad. he bought the wrong bolts - he tried to force them in, he broke the screw off, and dare i say it dad broke the easy out by hitting it with a hammer - to break it lose.
let dad drink a beer and watch you - maybe hand you a tool once in a while - help you polish the car - but never let dad near it with a wrench and bolt - that appears to be a dangerous combination.
had a dad just like that.

Glad to hear you are getting it and do keep us posted .

ok its memorial day im working but dad is home and going to bolt back on the heads

the dealer cleaned them up in somekind of cleaning solution bath

they machine shaved the bottom of both heads

drill pressed the 2 snapped bolts, coiled the one we really messed up

today when I get home i'm gona clean the exhaust manifolds and paint with a silver heat paint i hate the rusted color of the manifolds

$75 gasket kit but we should be good it has stuff i dont even need.

the exhaust manifolds on my v6 were machined fit so no gaskets but the gasket kit came with matching gaskets for them so were are going to use them to make darn sure no exhaust leak

new injectors are in from doctor injector.com fast fast fast shipping

then i'm off tues weds this week and hopefully fire her up mid-day tuesday.

we soaked the intake manifold, valve covers and misc. parts in engine gunk removal spray, let it soak and eat away all the crap over night

dad is gona rinse everything today

so i'll keep you guys posted and post pictures when we're done

haha yea dad did break the easy out in there i'll give you that
and he should of used heat on the manifold before removing the bolts

but o well this engine needed a lil over haul and this is making us do it

but the new botls were the stors fault, dad broke the old bolts trying to get them out

he never tried putting the wrong bolts in he noticed right away they were wrong.

but hey a little father son project, does a family good.


but i jsut hate gm for using special bolts for the exhaust manifolds had to pay over 50bucks for freakin 8mm bolts, the hardware store had nothing for us we tried that first

anyways gm screwed us first with these tiny 8mm bolts on the exhaust manifolds and the whole y-pipe holding and pulling down on them. no wonder the head of the bolts break off after 15-20yrs

then dad is trying to do the right thing and replace them and snap, crap happens we're over it

but i never took an engine apart this far so im learning

Glad to hear you almost have it . The 8mm bolts are sufficiant for the manifolds the largest I've ever seen was 3/8 or 7/16 on an engine even on Cat equipment or others . For a bolt to be heated and cooled over and over to last 15-20+yrs is good IMO . I know it's a pain to get the bolts out sometimes my first time was on an old ford v8 and the were larger bolts thats why now I run the engine to temp then allow it to cool enough to work on but not all the way so I run less of a chance of breaking a bolt .

ok SUCCESS!!!!

started her up tonight spent all day puttting her back together

here's some pics of before after process

still gota do timing but after new injectors and fixing leakin exhaust manifold and fixing broken hoses/old/cracked

already notice a difference and i thought it was good before

more pics

last one

Great to hear you got it back and running .

Wow good job man...

Thanks dad did most of the work, i paid for most of it haha

dad did the internal stuff. i cleaned and took care of the fuel lines/injectors and misc stuff. we had to figure out where alot of stuff went. like vacuum hoses and how the belt went on etc.... haha

definately an experience but im jsut glad its done should be driving her in a day or so.

we got 2 small oil leaks i think we just need to tighten the valve covers

Okay, I know it's a little late now, but 2 tips:

1. Anti-seize compound is your best friend and is useful in a lot of places.
2. It may seem like an idiot thing to do, but, next time you have a tough bolt, try tightening it a little more first before you remove it.

And a tool I highly recommend: Craftsman Bolt-Outs. These things get EVERYTHING out (if you don't lose the 1/2"-13mm one like I did), and they also come in a Lug-Out set as well, for those wheel locks you can't remove when you don't have the key.

BTW, my 2.8 was 16 years old when I bought the car, and I managed to get all 6 bolts out of the driver's side manifold without any problems (or special tools... I used a 1/4" ratchet with a 13mm socket on them). I've had both manifolds off of the 3.1 (and thread-locked the bolts back in because some kept coming loose) without any problems other than the fact that my flage studs/nuts keep coming loose and that damn broken bolt on the #5 cylinder.

Oh, and $75 was WAY too much for that gasket set... Unless you got the damn head bolts as well (unnecessary unless you broke one , or they stretched during initial installation...clean them up and shove them back in with sealer). Fel-Pro head gaskets are $8.50 a piece, the intake gasket set is $25, and the exhaust manifold flange donuts are $8 a piece where I get them (along with copper RTV for sealing the manifolds to the heads).

ALL the bolts on my autoX cars suspension are from Fastenal and I found out why they didn't put that strong of a bolt in the LCA when they ripped the mount. Awesome products!