Am I Asking For Trouble \ Playing With Fire Trying To Remove The Exhaust Studs?

[slow&rusty]

Hey Gang - I dropped my turbo and exhaust today, everything went nice and smooth.

I was hoping to install new studs while I was in there and tried to remove a few of the exhaust studs by double nutting them and they would not budge, they seem like they are welded to the heads.

I wish there was a way I could use an impact gun on them as the "hammer" action would definitely break them free.

I am worried about shearing them off at the head if I put to much force on them...they seem so brittle...should I just let them be and not play with fire?

-Or- what recommendations do you have or special tools are available to remove these stubborn yet brittle fasteners?

I know quite a few of few have been down this road.

Thanks!
Yasin

[Tt surgeon]

I would leave sleeping dogs alone.....there ain't no upside to changing them as you will surely snap off several flush, which sucks.

[Ken911]

If the threads look ok then re use them othe wise you'll end up drilling at least one if not most of them out.

[RarlyL8]

I take it your heat exchangers have not yet been removed so access is difficult.
Heat is the most effective if you can hit it with a torch.
If not, a long shaft air chissle will work. The nuts will be destroyed but will come off.
Before all that I soak everything in Kroil for several days.

Once the nuts are off and the exchangers down you can decide which studs are healthy enough to be removed and if you want to drill/tap.

[Miguel Antonett]

LEAVE THEM ALONE until you really have to mess with them.

[E-man930]

You probably are - but won't it be awesome to see the finished result - 12 gleaming new ARP exhaust studs made of "indistructanium" replacing the factory rusted and charred studs that may be on their last leg of the race. If you get into trouble with snapped studs, I'll send you my jig so you can drill them out - I did 4 (maybe it was 6 - I forget) of mine this way.

regards,

E-man

[JFairman]

I think everybody would like to have stainless exhaust port studs and nuts. Can't make a good judgement on yours without seeing them. With B&B headers on the car I've installed new 12mm wrench size copper coated semi locking exhaust nuts on those studs and 4 years later they are so rusted a 12 point box end wrench can hardly grip them.

You've been offered the jig to drill them out if they break and you can get 8mm x 1.25 stainless studs in different lengths from PMO or ARP. The ARP ones are alot better I think since they are much more expensive.

I guess it comes down to how bad yours are and how much you want to do it while laying on your back under the car.
If you decide to embark on the adventure, squirt penetrating oil like PB blaster on them and then next day try heat from an actylene/oxygen torch on the stud.
Let the stud cool down from a dull red hot for a few seconds and with the double nuts try unscrewing them.
When the stud is heated to a dull red hot the expansion of the steel stud usually breaks up some of the rust and corrosion further up in the threads so they can be removed without breaking them... hopefully.

[slow&rusty]

Thanks to everyone that responded.

I know I am flirting with the devil in the blue dress, red dress and sexy lingerie but I really would like to have 12 new sexy ARP studs made of indistructanium as E-Man states. I will take some pics of my studs tonight and share it wiht you guys.

Thanks E-Man for the offer on the jig...I appreciate it and thanks Brian and JFairman for the great advice.
Yasin

[TT Gasman]

Here is what I would suggest:
1) access a lift to make things easier
2) PB blast,kroil, wd40 or ATF/ acetone soak the studs
3) get a proper stud extractor like the Klan tools part
4) get the stromsky racing stud kit
5) heat with torch
I just went thru the whole worst case scenario algorithm including sheared studs . It sucks. I would have everything ready and be prepared to drill out some studs.

[krasuskyp]

Yasin-

EMan hooked me up w/ said jig (wazzup dewd!?), he's da man and makes a great (and hilarious) point about wanting.

I'll defer you to this post if it helps you render a decision:

header install Q's - secret handshakes?

me, I'm trying to block those memories - or at least drown them to eternal repression, typically with bier

to quote Lord Helmet "nononono go past this part - in fact... never play this part again"

crykies 8-/

good luck heh heh...

[Spenny_b]

Despite all the work I've done on my engine build, including fully porting the heads, I still chickened-out of removing the existing exhaust studs....I even have 11 spares sitting in the garage, but I remember all too well trying to remove a snapped one when I first bought the car, it was SO hard (difficult and hardened) we couldn't even drill it out. In the end, we resorted to using the services of an engineering shop about 3miles down the road from where the car was on ramps. Towed it down there, and handed over my £45 for 1 (yes, one) stud to be removed. They specialise in removing tricky studs from bikes, Porsche and Ferraris (which are apparently very prone to "welding" in their studs).

So, mine are all cleaned up, some a little ropey looking, but I'm about £500 better off from a worst-case-scenario ...and that's assuming you don't need to resort to spark erosion to remove them (leave wallet at the door, pick up hankie, cry like a girl)

[Tt surgeon]

The only problem with draining a swamp is that sooner or later you're up to your ass in alligators.
I would not do it......

[slow&rusty]

Guys - I decided to not flirt with the devil and remove the studs. I even bought the stud extractor sockets online yesterday, they will come in handy another time and down the road. I will clean them up with a wire brush and then goop them up with anti seize.

Of course my preference is to have all nice new shiny hardware and fasteners but I will err on the side of caution and let these guys "hang - out" for a while longer.
Thanks to all that replied.

Tt - love the comment!
Yasin

[TT Gasman]

Be careful with some of the cheap stud extractor sockets, all they do is finish the job and shear off the stud- I know! The only good stud extractors are the Klan tools and the Snap On.

[quattrorunner]

Originally Posted by slow&rusty

Guys - I decided to not flirt with the devil and remove the studs. I even bought the stud extractor sockets online yesterday, they will come in handy another time and down the road. I will clean them up with a wire brush and then goop them up with anti seize.

Of course my preference is to have all nice new shiny hardware and fasteners but I will err on the side of caution and let these guys "hang - out" for a while longer.
Thanks to all that replied.

Tt - love the comment!
Yasin

Good call in my opinion. I had the heads off durring a rebuild and couldn't get all them off even out of the car and on a bench with torch and vise!! Got most out, and in the end compromised which I hated to do but the studs were good enough
I had to drill out some and retap which is better but I just didn't want to hurt the heads and thats how difficult it got. Thats a monster job.

[slow&rusty]

I really feel better about not extracting the studs after reading your responses.

I appreciate the responses especially the last two responses from TT Gasman and Quattorunner.

Thanks guys.

[krasuskyp]

if you were smart you didn't click on the link I provided - too painful!!! 8-)

great to hear Yasin, wait until you 'need' to fersure

[quattrorunner]

Originally Posted by Tt surgeon

The only problem with draining a swamp is that sooner or later you're up to your ass in alligators.
I would not do it......

Thats good

[E-man930]

Originally Posted by Tt surgeon

The only problem with draining a swamp is that sooner or later you're up to your ass in alligators.
I would not do it......

If you don't drain the swamp and eradicate the gators now while you have things apart it means that the alligators will come up to your house and bite your ass while you are reading your favorite book, drinking an iced lemonade, while in your favorite hammock...

Translated: You can address the issue now on your terms or you can wait for them to break off and disintegrate at a later point in time, causing unwanted down time when you are trying to enjoy your ride...

Don't blow this up to be any more difficult than it is, drilling out the studs is easy when you use a jig. I did all of my broken ones in a little more than 30 minutes. I used a pick to pry up the edge of the remaining threads then pulled it out with a pair of vise grips and the threads unwind as if you are cutting metal on a lathe. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

For those of you that are scared of doing this yourself, PM me your address and I'll send you a morale booster patch so that you can rethink your position.
Here is a little preview of it for you...

[E-man930]

So...
I reassert my support - drill them junkers out, you can borrow the tools for free.