[FNFGTO]

Exhaust manifolds leek really bad! I need to remove them but the bolts are pretty much rounded off with time. Car is a 69 GTO 4 speed. I'm not sure if I'll be putting them back on or not. I have an old set of Dynomax headers kicking around, but not sure if I want to deal with the hot starter and clearence problems. Have pretty much all tools except torches. Any ideas?

Thanks, John

[David Jones]

Can you drive a 6pt 14mm socket up on them? Squirt PB Blaster on them a few times during a period of days. If it'll run, crank it for short periods (don't get the manifolds hot enough to burn the penetrant off) and spray it with penetrant. MAYBE they'll come off.

[jfmjr1]

try the sockets from Sears for rounded off bolts. I have heard they work well. Also agree with soaking with PB BLaster over a few days as well

[justakidagain]

If you have room, try hitting the head of the bolt with a air hammer. It loosens the rust and also flattens the bolt head so a socket fits on better

[Robert Williams]

Originally Posted by jfmjr1

try the sockets from Sears for rounded off bolts. I have heard they work well. Also agree with soaking with PB BLaster over a few days as well

Yes, these sockets from Sears will remove anything, the best money i ever spent on tools was for these sockets.

[sts]

Long term soak in pb is the best solution. I have never tried the sears contraptions, but I have spent a signifigant portion of my professional life dealing with frozen fasteners.

If they are seized in the holes, the widgets are useless. If that's the case, the widgets will make it easier to break off the bolts. Shock, combined with a long term soak--meaing a week of soaking with daily weasel piss application--is an excellent tool in which to remove frozen fasteners. Squirt them with weasel piss, and tap on them with a hammer, do it every day or a few times a day. (In a professional setting/daily driver, it's impossible to use such methods, but as a hobby car, it's the way to go because you can do other things while allowing the fasteners to soak.)

When attempting to break them loose, beat the head with a hammer while twisting. If there is room, vice grips (name brand ones) are incredible tools, and most of the professionals I know perfer vice grips as the chosen tool for such extractions. Another thing that works is also applying clockwise pressure while beating the fastener. I don't know why clockwise pressure works to help break them loose. Maybe an engineer can shed some light. All I know is that also applying clockwise pressure to frozen fasteners makes all the difference between removing a bolt or drilling it out.

I'm not suggesting this as the first plan of attack, but if it's hard to get to the fastener you might consider cutting off the heads and removing the manifolds. That way, you have plenty of material to grab in order to try to extract the bolts. The downside of Mr. Fake, aka Bob Vilia, is that the contraptions don't allow clockwise force on the fasteners.

Then again, breaking frozen fasteners off in the hole goes with the territory. With that, sometimes you're sol no matter how careful you are.