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Old 08-18-2021, 06:46 PM   #31
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I called the Bluesteel folks and they said I must have gotten an old bottle, so they are sending a replacement. I'm willing to try again.

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Old 08-19-2021, 03:49 AM   #32
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This thread is giving me anxiety just reading it, remembering one such attempt of mine repairing my (long gone) 1988 F350 460cu. in. gas powered truck.



The truck developed a tick, then turnined into bad exhaust leak (smell it in the cab bad), due to two broken and missing exhaust manifold bolts.



It turns out that many V8's of that era are so inefficient and unburned hydrocarbons dirty, that they inject air into the exhaust manifold to form a secondary burn chamber, before the gasses move to the catalytic converter. That extra heat cracks exhaust manifolds and breaks bolts, so Ford upgraded the ones on this truck from cast iron, to cast steel. There was also a bolt upgrade (maybe a Ford service bulletin) to titanium bolts, a dealer-only item.



The steel bolts were broken off about flush with the head casting, but the irregular surface of the bolt, at the break, had the drill bit wandering and me really making a mess of things, elongating the hole, and FUBARed the threads in the head. Despite days of soaking w/PB Blaster, I had to remove the manifold, breaking off more bolts in the process. I found with the manifold in place, and gravity working against me, the penetrating oil doesn't make it to the threads in the head, the path is too long. The same with a torch, the path too long, the mass too large, to get heat where I needed it, on the threads.



What (in my mind) should have been an easy fix, California truck, never seen salt, turned into me removing both heads. Then me removing some of the broken bolts myself, on the bench. In the interest of time, I had my local automotive machine shop repair the remaining 7-8 broken off bolts, in a fixture on their milling machine. The holes I FUBAR'd needed Timecerts thread repair inserts installed.



Then while the heads were off, I had the machine shop do a valve job. Because why wouldn't you? $600 machine shop bill, $200 worth of titanium bolts, $200 to have the steel exhaust manifolds ground flat (new ones were $1200), and tracking down special inconel-based, ultra high temp anti-sieze. New head gaskets, new air injection tube assemblies (the old corroded ones broke while removing them). busted knuckles and a wrenched back, $1500 later, I was on the road minus the ticking stinky exhuast leak, good times!



oh sure, it's funny NOW
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Old 08-19-2021, 11:33 AM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TomsBeast View Post
This thread is giving me anxiety just reading it
oh sure, it's funny NOW
That sounds like a nightmare Fortunately, if there’s access, welding a nut to the busted stud seems to break them free. Even if they are flush to the head, getting a spot weld in the center of the nut may be possible. Failing that, I think I would make a jig using a drill bushing. Using the new manifold as a pattern It wouldn’t be too hard to place the bushings directly over the busted studs and the bushing would assure that you drilled on center. Having said that, I’m taking the easy way out and having it done buy a shop that has been doing this repair for years. They even stock manifolds and studs. Last time he gave me all the old studs and every one had a nut welded on. As for drilling a busted bolt with an irregular break, getting a center punch in the middle and then drilling with the smallest drill bit you have to start and working your way up to the tap drill size can avoid an off center hole. No matter what though, it’s a huge pain in the ass.
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Old 08-19-2021, 04:17 PM   #34
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I bought this Lisle drill template to fix/replace the missing/broken exhaust studs on mine.

I haven't had the courage to pull it apart yet though... Supposedly it can be done with this template and a right angle pneumatic drill, but all the testimonials I could find are on F-series trucks.
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Old 08-20-2021, 05:40 AM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kibo View Post
I bought this Lisle drill template to fix/replace the missing/broken exhaust studs on mine.

I haven't had the courage to pull it apart yet though... Supposedly it can be done with this template and a right angle pneumatic drill, but all the testimonials I could find are on F-series trucks.
That's one helluva creative and near-perfect drill jig for this application----its design is pretty much genius.

Watching the video I'm guessing whatever the vehicle is was on a lift and an F-Series at that. I kinda doubt there is that much working space with a 5.4 still in-frame of the E-Series. Perhaps with the exhaust manifold out of the way there is?

The success of this jig would be very dependent on the right angle drill being used. Once a drill bit is in the Jacobs Chuck-like there's a lot of room needed for use.

This does solve the problem of aligning a drill bit with the stud and possibly preventing over drilling into the water jacket.

Seems there are a number of similar jigs in the market, most likely all from Lisle with different names like Matco etc on them. Worth checking YouTube to see what tool or method others are or have used successfully.

Good luck if you go through with this---update us if you think of it.
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