Exhaust stud woes, What's the next step? Options

[saigon71]

Nothing is ever easy on these cars...

My heat exhangers got some oil in them from the bad oil cooler seals, so I decided to pull them for a good cleaning. One exhaust nut was really difficult to remove. Once I finally got it off, I saw that the threads were galled.

Ordered some new exhaust studs.

Went to work removing the old one after researching 914 world.

Heated stud boss with MAP torch & sprayed a bunch of PB blaster.

Welded a nut on the end...nut kept breaking loose without budging the stud, removing small portions off the top of the stud during the six attempts.

Then welded a bar to the remainder of the stud and used an adjustable wrench for leverage. Heat & PB Blaster, working it a little at a time, back & forth. It finally broke free. Reheat & apply more PB. On about the 5th cycle, the stud broke off below the level of the head.

Engine is in the car & I'd like to keep it that way. What are my best options for getting this thing out now...and installing a new stud?

I've had horrible luck with EZ-outs on other applications.

Thanks!

[larryM]

. your question updated

you should be able to get "exact enuf" by measuring a pair of intact studs per your pictures with a precision vernier caliper

- you have likely soaked the hell out of it with Kroil and put lots of pinpoint heat on it with an Oxy-Acety torch already ?? - sometimes the heat will help the Kroil penetrate

fwiw - i have successfully hand-drilled these things multiple times - first make sure the broken end is ground FLAT so you can center a self-starting bit on it - you start with a SMALL dia tough high speed steel RH drill bit & once you have a deep pilot hole you can progressively switch to larger left-hand bits - the things are tough, so expect to waste a couple bits

sometimes the thing will come loose with the left-hander when you have it drilled out to a shell (the stomski tool uses LH bits)

- or you can try an easy out once it is very thin (and soaked & heated)

- or if it is down to super thin - just re-tap it on center

worst case - if you miss exact center - you can buy step studs to fix these 10mm to 8mm - just drill & tap that slightly offset hole to 10 - yup - i have also done that more than once

if you want lots of tips & good experienced advice on how to get studs out & what to do if they fail - go search Pelican for <exhaust studs>

start here - broken exhaust studs