Head Stud Replacement without pulling heads?
 

I know this is a dumb question, but from looking at pictures and diagrams is there a reason that a single head stud could not be backed out and pulled through the head without pulling the head assembly? I am guessing that either there is no way to get a grip on the minimal amount of the stud the sticks through the cam housing or that heat is required at the point where the stud threads into the case. I have two broken head studs I need to replace - one on cylinder 1 and one on cylinder 3 on an 87 Carrera. We will probably replace the clutch soon so we will have the engine out of the car. I was kind of hoping I did not need to take the heads off.

Wishful thinking I'm sure. :(

I don't see how.

Not gonna happen. Besides, you'll really want to be replacing all the lower 12.

I *think* people have done it before. At least I'm pretty sure I remember reading some posts here (including pictures) of guys that have done it. From what I recall, it was a lot of work, though. Try doing a search and hopefully you can find the post(s).

"the" is correct. The was a thread some years back of an ingenious guy who managed to work out a stud without removing the head. Of course he spent about as much time doing it as it would have takend to drop the engine and remove the head.

Hmm - kind of like the guys in school that work so hard to cheat, it would have been easier just to study.

The car just had a compression test and leak down that came out as close to perfect as you can get (165 and 0% on all cylinders) so I am not in any hurry to do this - but it does concern me.

LOL, that may be true!

But it was pretty amazing, from what I recall, he did all the work with the engine still in the car.

More like the guys that squeegee your windows in winter for a 'donation' and end up working in the cold for $5 an hour.

Can one of you guys point me to the thread of the guy who managed to pull the studs without pulling the heads? I can't seem to find it with the search function.

By cheating you learn real world skills. By studying you learn crap youll never use again. And you got free time to party and work on your car :)

basically he got at the exposed bit of stud between the bottom of the cylinder and the case and over about a 6 hour time period, managed to turn it out in 1° increments with mini visegrips or something like that. lucky his stud was moveable, unlike most of them that need lots of heat to melt the loctite. more patience than i have.

My grandfather used to tell me "A lazy man will kill himself at work."

Yep...in six hours I could have the engine on the stand and the heads pulled, and that's with liberal beer breaks...which probably means in six hours YOU could have the bottom 12 replaced and the engine on the way back into the car...

If you can't find the time and money to do the job correctly the first time, How will you find the time and money for the second time?????? Just a question that runs though my mind

We'll do it right the first time - just curious if it could be done this way or not. The 4 different mechanics I have spoken to all say it is fine to drive it as is until we start to hear some exhaust leakage or get a cylinder leak. I'll probably address it before then - as I said I need to replace the clutch soon anyway. I have R&R'd my 930 engine and tranny a few times and replaced the clutch, but I am not comfortable with cam timing so I will likely just give the engine to my mechanic to work on or maybe have Tom Amon come by our house for that part of it. Thanks for the input.

Save some money. Buy Wayne's book and do it yourself. If you work through it methodically it is not hard.

And there would be lots of guys here to help.