osimic

Hey ya'll,

So I've been overhauling the exhaust systems on my 1997 Ford F-150 Centurion. 4.6L V8.

I bought this truck secondhand, and the previous owner definitely didn't care about vehicles as much as me.

The Problem: Studs have been on there for 165,000 miles. couple of them I have snapped the nuts off trying to get them out of there places. The way I have gone about fixing this is lots of penetrating oil, and welding a new hardened nut on the remaining bolt so I have something to torque on.

I'm looking for any other tips to remove broken exhaust manifold studs. Anything ya guys got would be helpful.

Thanks again.

MyFX4Project

Youre doin it right. These things are a huge pain to get out.

Luckily I got to cut mine and pulled the heads off when I blew a head gasket. Very easy to do when they are on the floor in front of you lol

plumberboy

Sounds like you are on it. I was able to place 2 nuts on and lock them to back one out. I have heard of people using a stud puller. I did not have any luck with that. Did not have enough room. I had to drill out and thread 2 of mine.
To do that I just bought a cheap angle air drill at harbor freight. You should use the 3 thread tap set. Less chance of snapping one off that way. Top, middle and bottom tap. I had to cut one of the taps to make a bottom tap.use blaster or WD or something while drilling and tapping. I had good drill bits so I did not have to buy any.
All that is if you snap them off flush. Really it's not that bad. Learn from my mistakes.,,buy good gaskets. Carefully re-tighten after the engine heats up and cools down a couple of times.
Oh yeah...,. You may have to tilt your engine to get one of them off on the passenger side.
Sorry for being long winded. Good luck

TheKing1985

Uggghhhh, I dread putting on my headers this spring.

plumberboy

I just thought of something else. Be careful when
Removing the dipstick tube. Getting the broken piece out of the block was tough.

GTXKen

If they end up breaking off flush to the head go buy a right angle drill and some heli coil and take your time, my buddy just went through this and its a pain in the ***

osimic

Awesome comments/advice guys. Thanks for the info. Keep em comin if ya got em!

MyFX4Project

Yup. I paid someone to get mine out because I didnt wanna mess with it anymore.