Went to replace my thermostat today and surprise surprise had one of the bolts break off in it. Any suggestons? I've already tried extractor kits, broke the extractor and now that won't drill out. I'm about to the point of saying forget it, pulling the intake, and just replacing it. it's a 83 305 btw.

 

It was savable right up to that point. Intakes are cheap. I'd pitch it.

 

If you must replace it, I'd suggest either the factory aluminum intake, or a Performer intake. Any real hi-perf manifolds won't make much difference performance wise, and will just cause problems with things fitting properly and lining up. The factory aluminum intake would be your best option - they are everywhere and can be had for like $10.

 

There are probably 30 sitting in garages of TGO members on any given day.

 

That's about what I figured. I did everything I could with it. But with only 88 thousand on the engine, I believe the thermostat was the original, meaning those bolts likely hadn't moved in 25 years. Amazing how a quick fix turned into a six hour headache. Speaking of which, how big of a pain is replacing the intake going to be?

 

I had assumed it was a TBI. If it is, it can be changed in about 4 hours by an average guy. Read up about getting the distributor back in time and the china wall gasket first. Those are what trip most people up.

 

It's carbed, any major difference in difficulty? Don't get me wrong, I'm decently mechanically inclinded, I've just never done this before.

 

Carb'd engines are the easiest ones to do for most people. Its pretty straight forward. Small block chevy is a pretty simple motor, nothing really tricky to changing anything on it when doing the intake. Only thing that typically trips up people new to the job is retiming the distributor - its not hard, just might take a few tries to get it right. Otherwise its just simple remove and replace.

 

Check on the edelbrock website for a step by step process.
http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive_...all/2000.shtml
download the pdf here.

 

now that is what i wanted to hear. and I've got a buddy who just learned how to time a 350, watched him do it and it looked relatively easy so. And well I bought the car partially to learn how to work on them more so suppose this is a good chance.

 

if you still need a intake let me know. i may have one for ya new in the box never installed. 80.00 i went a different route.

 

Go with a Weiand Stealth piece (w/spreadbore adapter if needed), you won't be disappointed....

 

mainly i'm just looking at getting it running again. if i could get a better intake for fairly cheap it'd be great but not looking too likely. As of right now I actually can't even work on the car. Long story short my pops is still under the belief that we can wd-40 the hell out of the bolt and get it out with a pair of vice grips. Fun fun right. Only problem is it's putting the work off day by day.

 

If it is sticking up out of the manifold enough to grab you can get it out, but dont use wd-40. Take a small propane torch and heat up the bolt then drip candle wax on it try to get the wax down in there as far as possible by reheating. Give it a few gentle taps with a hammer on the bolt, let it cool and hit it with pb blaster. Then hit it with the vice grips.

 

Update, well I've about got the intake off and I started hunting for a new one. Only one I've found in town was from an 82 truck and they tried to charge me a hundred dollars for it. If I had to I'll take ole dude who posted above's offer for his but I'd prefer to get one in town. So, maybe a stupid question but would a 350 intake fit?

 

Post a "want to buy" ad in the "parts wanted" forum for a stock 305 intake.
Everybody that upgraded their manifold still has their old one in their garage.
You can't give them away...

 

I just ran into this problem while pulling the manifolds off the 88 firebird but its a v6. Both thermostat bolts broke and I was able to weld nuts on to them and just pull one out and the other bolt broke again so I took it to a machine shop and it cost $20. I would go the route I did if money is the issue but if not then just get a new performance one and never look back.