heater box bolts

[craigmakes3]

How difficult is it to remove short heater box studs from the engine and replace them with long to fit a pair of thick flange heat exchangers? The heat exchangers I have are in excellent shape, and I hate to go through the hassle and expense of finding a set of thin flanged units. The engine is out of the car

Thanks

[Robey5]

I think that removing the exhaust studs from the engine is relatively straight forward to put the longer studs in there... ...provided that you do not break them in the process. Throw two nuts on the stud, soak the block-to-stud interface with a penetrating fluid before turning them out, and go sick....

But -- I think that there are other reasons why the thick flanged HE were used, and that is a part of this equation that I cannot speak to. Some of the more experienced will likely have a more informed suggestion there.

[traverscott74]

Yeah I kinda agree with Robey5 on this. The replacement is pretty straightforward – shouldn’t be that hard. But there must be a real good reason why short heater box studs were placed in there in the first place.

[KTL]

Make sure the thick flange heat exchangers are the correct size in terms of port diameter. Exchangers from a Carrera have tubing that extends up into the head. If you have small exhaust ports like an SC or earlier engine, the tubing is too large to fit into the head port, if i'm not mistaken?

To remove the studs, you need to heat the head to help loosen them. Otherwise you end up breaking them. Heat is your BEST friend here so don't be afraid to use it. If you don't, you'll likely end up regretting it.