HEAD STUDS

[heliwilly]

Hi,

I have 2 broken studs in a 550 block.

So far they have resisted the efforts of heat and brute force in an effort to remove them.

I realise no one has a fool proof method to remove them, but rather than cut them flush and drill them out,

I will try any way to get them out.

Thanks

Bill W.

[K2-K6]

If you've enough room,  you could try two sets of small pipe wrench (closing jaw stilsons)  and get them opposite each other in a T shape arrangement.

They are always very tight and highly resistant to getting them moving but you may get them going like that at least.

[Trigger]

Why are you trying to remove them ?

If you have a couple of inches, bend a twist out. If only half inch, weld a nut on them , and turn out.

[heliwilly]

Hi,

The two studs were broken when I got the engine. I have managed to get the other head nuts off with a struggle, but after taking the barrels off I am left with the two broken studs. Both are about 2 inches long.
Tried the pipe wrench 'T' handle but they only seemed to wash to twist. I wasn't sure how much twist they could take so didn't push it too far.
I was going to thread the remaining bit of stud and use a couple of nuts on them, but I think the bend and twist them off seems the easier option.
Would the best option be to replace all the studs with new ones?
Thanks
Bill W.

[Johnwebley]

  I would get a length of bat welded across the top,


  and use lots of heat and penetrating fluid the try to loosen them.take lots of time,even hitting them could loosen them,

 the last thing you need ,is to have them snap off level with the joint.

[Trigger]

OEM head studs have not been available for many years now 

To get head studs out, you have to grip them as low as possible to stop the twist. Any broken ones, put a washer over the stud and weld a nut to it. The heat from the welder will help 

[matthewmosse]

Pipe wrench often works. Building up with weld and gripping with mole grips is a good backup method, if drilling out as last resort do a few practice runs on scrap. Nothing beats the smug feeling of removing the thread from a drilled out broken bolt or stud like it's a helicoil

[AshimotoK0]

Pipe wrench often works. Building up with weld and gripping with mole grips is a good backup method, if drilling out as last resort do a few practice runs on scrap. Nothing beats the smug feeling of removing the thread from a drilled out broken bolt or stud like it's a helicoil

Plus one on that from me ... I tried welding nuts etc but they always broke off, even though I de-plated the nut and thoroughly cleaned up first.  Then I watched a guy on one of those USA resto programmes build up a bloody great ugly blob of weld and then use Mole grips to unscrew a really stubborn corroded stud, whilst still very hot. I used MIG .. I think the high current passing through the relatively high resistance corrosion interface helps break down the bond plus the extreme heat also helps enormously.  A guy at work told be to put soap on the alloy and  make sure it doesn't start to go brown ..if it does then  heat is getting too much ... not sure how true that theory is but I did it anyway.

[K2-K6]

These studs are unusual in that they're designed very specifically to be tight,  that's tight with a capital F 

I don't know specifically what they did, but they are virtually an interference fit.  Which means they specced the threads to be the same size with no clearance (hole and stud) so as they are wound in they have the very highest joint integrity that's available. It's a characteristic of this interface that makes them difficult to remove,  because that's what it's designed to do.

They will always be difficult whether corroded or not, it's a matter of getting a grip on them to overcome that.

The soap thing is true Ash, used alot when working with heat on aluminium  body panels, it shows when the panel is about to collapse from too much heat and be irretrievably damaged.