I just thought I'd post this little known trick for freeing frozen bolts, or studs from aluminum threads. Cause I just finished removing 3 frozen/ broken bolts from my TPI intake.
Anyhow you heat up the area with a torch and drip candle wax over the threads ... works like a charm.
It's a trick that's better known among cycle mechanics cause they encounter the problem more often, I guess.
Hope this can be of help to someone

 

can you elaborate more on that? I don't quite get it, how do you get the wax on the threads if they are in the cyl head?

 

please tell more, how do you get the wax on the threads if they are in the cyl head?

 

In the case I mentioned earlier, there were some broken off bolts that I EZout-ed, so it was simple to heat up the threaded area and melt wax onto the threads.
For something that's stuck deeply in there, I'm not so sure.

 

you know, Ive heard of this being done before. It really does work.

 

Wow... never heard of that... woulda been nice to know when I got my intake in the mail. I had to use a monkey wrench to get the old carb studs out, lol.

 

Your post makes no sense, you say you EZouted the bolts and then dripped candle wax but on what? It sounds like the bolts are out so where and why would you need the wax? I need to get a frozen or stuck head bolt but it is not broken (yet) and no where to drip any wax. I'm waiting on a torch to heat the head of the bolt, I hope it works because I'm out of ideas. The next idea is to drill it out but I'm not looking forward to that. Any other ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

Yes, heat the head of the bolt and then melt the candle wax near the underside of the head. The idea is that the heat will pull or wick the wax down onto the threads below the surface to help loosen the stuck bolt.

 

Old school method that works.

 

13 year thread necro so don't be surprised if the original poster doesn't comment here , and yes in some cases the melted wax will "wick" it's way under the bolt head and down into the threads themselves .

You , however , having a stuck cylinder head bolt will not be able to use this trick due to the length of the bolt and how much torque is applied during the bolt's installation . Heating the bolt head will not help you either , in practice your supposed to heat the area that the threads of the bolt thread into to expand that area and let the bolt threads turn , heating the bolt itself will only expand it causing it to be even tighter and less likely to be removed without breakage .

 

Thanks for the reply. I understand how it works now, the original post was kind of confusing. However like Orange Bird says, I don't think it will work on my head bolt, it's just on there way to tight. I will probably try it though, I think I've got a few candles. I'm also going to try heating the bolt. Do you have any idea how long I should wait after heating to try loosening the bolt? I'm thinking that the heated bolt may be weaker and break. I wish somebody knew because if it's not any weaker when heated I would try it at different temperatures.

 

Thanks for your reply, it wasn't very positive so let me ask you, "What would you do to get that bolt out? I will be heating it, I read somewhere that the bolt expands and then contracts and that maybe somewhere in that time frame the bolt will come out. I think it may be stuck because someone put something like RTV or other gasket material because it is close to a coolant passage. Some of the other bolts had some sort of crap on them. Do you know if a red hot bolt is more likely to break than a cold bolt?

 

Hi Milhouse89 ,

I'm sorry if my post sounded negative , I wasn't trying to offend you , just letting you know that a stuck head bolt is about the worst bolt to have stuck and that I do not believe the wax trick will be helpful here . By all means do not heat the bolt itself and especially do not try to turn a red hot bolt as that's a for certain way to end up with a broken bolt . Were this mine and the bolt truly was that stuck , I'd heat the area of the block that the bolt threads into and then using a good quality (Snap On or such) brand new socket (the slightest wear in an old socket wrench could cause slippage & strippage) I'd take the air gun to it and it would either come out or break . If it comes out , great , mission accomplished and if it breaks there are ways of dealing with that too (broken bolt extractors such as the "Easy Out") . Now I do realize the area of the block where the bolt goes into may be somewhat hard to get to , especially if it's one of the bolts higher up on the head (more near the intake manifold than the exhaust manifold) but heating the area the bolt threads into is really your best bet for getting it out .

I wish you the best of luck with it and hopefully heating the block will work for you .....

 

Some of the other bolts had some sort of crap on them. Do you know if a red hot bolt is more likely to break than a cold bolt?[/QUOTE]

The bolts should have tread sealant on them. If the heads are still on from the factory, they were sealed with GM Head Bolt Thread Sealant, which was a paste. If the heads have been off in service, the threads should have teflon thread sealant on them. If any of them weren't sealed correctly, they will probably be rusted into the block.

What type of tool are you using to remove the bolts? I recommend a long 1/2" drive breaker handle(I use Snap On tools) with a Snap On chrome socket. I like the breaker bar better than the impact wrench on something like a head bolt because I feel it gives me more control. In tough situations, I've broken loose stubborn fasteners with the breaker and a cheater pipe that even my big ***** Snap On impact wrench had trouble with.

I've had more than a few head bolts where I had to use a cheater pipe on the breaker handle. I have a 4ft. length of 1" pipe on hand for this. Use enough extension or a deep socket so you can hold the handle at a 90 degree angle or slightly more to the bolt. This is so you don't roll the socket and peel the head. You may need a helper to be sure the socket stays aligned and solidly on the bolt head. You may need to put some serious force on the bolt to break it loose but in all the SBCs I've pulled heads on, I don't remember any broken head bolts(it's been 40 years since the first time) and I've seen some bad ones. Those bolts are forged from some tough stuff.

Like OrangeBird suggested, if it does break, at least you should be able to pull the head. Then you can use any one of a few methods, including heat, to remove the remaining bolt portion when you have better access to it.

 

Shock threads by hitting squarely with a hammer and punch. Hit bolt a few times before trying to loosen. Leave or install and torque all head bolts around the seized bolt to relieve pressure off of that bolt.
Joe

 

I've had more success heating the base material in cases such as this. Try to keep the heat controlled so the fastener does not exceed 800°F. Reaching or surpassing that temperature can anneal the fastener. Really interesting examples are the Torx recess cap screws used to fasten the bell housing to the transmission on later Hydramatics. The connection is steel into aluminum, just like a TPI intake. However, the torque is a lot higher than the typical 18 ft/lb used in TPI intake bolts. If heat is applied to the case area surrounding the thread the thread locker compound will soften and the bolts remove easily. If the bolt head is heated and annealed, the Torx bit will cam out of the recess and you could be shopping for a new transmission.

The real answer here is prevention instead of reaction. Apply nickel based anti-seize compound to the threads before assembling and the chances of easy removal later will be greatly improved. Or in the case of bolts requiring a seal, such as head bolts penetrating a water jacket, a Teflon sealant compound such as Loctite PST or Permatex 535 will improve the success rate.

 

I just lost a paragraph describing how I might lose the car over this and all the money I've put into it over the last 3 year, maybe it will pop up. Anyway I would like to thank everyone for their replies, it is appreciated. I wanted to give some more information,so if anyone has anymore ideas feel free to reply. It has Edelbrock Aluminum heads and Hedman headers and a cast iron block 5.7L. I mention this because of my situation I might have to sell it or put it in storage which I don't really want to do, but if anyone is interested let me know and I can give you more info.
I wanted to reply to ASE saying that I have almost as long of a breaker and cheater bar as you, and after trying for 15 minutes or so I was getting pissed off as I really wanted to get this done and I really put my weight into it and it sounded just like it turned(except louder) but, no, the socket broke and slipped off and partially rounded it. After some other tries it is now pretty well stripped but not completely round. I've got a bolt extractor on it now, which worked pretty well for 3 of the TPI manifold bolts (TORX). I'm saying all this just to relay that this head bolt is on their like concrete and to mention that it has Aluminum heads and that the head bolts are ARP. I also would like to know of any drill bits that would drill the ARP bolts out. I know of Cobalt and carbide tipped drill bits any other suggestions are welcome(maybe a diamond tipped bit?) Thanks again, everybody.

 

Wow. It didn't come out, and it didn't break? That's astounding.

As suggested earlier in the thread, did you try putting the bolts surrounding it back in, and then try reefing on it?

Is there enough room to get an impact socket on it? (for use with your breaker bar, and an additional length of pipe, if necessary) Impact wrench would be nice, but, not something that everyone has.

 

I always use impact sockets on my breaker bar.

 

Whenever I have the room.

Was working on my truck one day, breaking loose lugnuts in prep for a brake job. Had my trusty 4' breaker bar, and an impact socket. First couple went fine.... then...... I heard some thing go "CRACK", and then I was laying on the ground, looking at the sky, a four people standing around me saying "Wow man, you OK?" I had no clue what happened..... Upon investigation, it seems that my cheap china impact socket blew apart, and since I was pushing down heavily on the breaker bar, I BEAT my head against the side of the truck hard enough to knock my happy **** out for a few minutes..... Man, I had a killer headache.

I bought better sockets the next day.

 

Consider welding an impact socket onto the bolt.

 

Ive had good luck with this also

 

I looked back on the replies but I still don't know what you mean with the term "reefing". Maybe it means rocking back and forth on the bolt. I wish I had a welder but I did go out and buy the beefiest cordless DeWalt impact wrench (1200 ft/lbs of breakaway torque) and some really heavy beefy impact sockets, after I rounded it off the first time. I tried it with the extractor socket and the bolt didn't budge. I've now got a torch, impact wrench and sockets, breaker bar, etc. and will try again in a few hours. After that drilling. I'll probably break off the bolt before that. I really don't feel like doing all that drilling or spending hundreds on drill bits. I really don't know if that bolt will be any easier to get out after it breaks and I get the head off, but maybe. If you know of any super hard drill bits to drill that bolt out , let me know. Thanx.

 

You do know you can buy a stick welder for less than 100 bucks?


http://www.homedepot.com/p/Smarter-T...g&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

Yea, thanks, but part of the problem is that there is no electricity where the car is parked. Otherwise it would have been a great excuse to buy a welder. I'm about to find out how many charges on my 18volt cordless drill it takes to drill out a head bolt. Any suggestions on drill bits to use? I hope my cheap drill can take it, it's +115* here in Las Vegas.