how to remove exhaust studs

[T77911S]

whats the best way to remove exhaust studs?
heat the head with a torch? not the stud right?

[Vereeken]

Soak them in WD 40 (or PB blaster but I do not have that in Belgium) let sit overnight. Then apply heat. I do not think you can distinguish between head and stud -too small- tap light on head with small hammer and then use that weird special tool the one that goes --__--

Go easy. You do not want to break off a stud.

Good luck. Awkward job.

[john walker's workshop]

hate to say it, but there's tons of info if you use the search function. twisting them out rarely gets them out, regardless of procedure. sometimes though, like a 2% chance.

[don gilbert]

when i put on my ssi's, my first two studs that i heated and tapped on broke, next ten (no heat) cam out ok, but some where very scary. so i guess heat is not always the answer

[SpeedracerIndy]

You will break a few most likely. And like JW said, there is a VERY small chance that you can turn them out.

I broke 4 and bought a tool from a member on this board to drill them out. It worked like a charm and I did all 4 within a few hours and that was going slow.

Here is my process: Drilling out exhaust studs - quick help

[JeremyD]

MAPP torch not propane - heat em up good. Soak with PB blaster 4 nights in a row before you start.

You still may break some depending on how rotten they are.

[Gunter]

Patience and real heat around the stud may help. (Not the stud itself)
The heat may melt any thread-locker on the stud.
WD-40 is not a penetrating oil.
Double-nutting the stud and reasonable force may do it but.................
Lots of info under "Search".

[lucittm]

This is so sad. We have one of the most beautiful cars in the world and it is an engineering marvel. So why did Porsche scrimp on the fasteners when they built their most excellent heads? I don't think it was the material that Porsche sourced (like the issue with valve guides), the studs are actually quite hard.
Some think the engineers lost to the accountants and cost drove the decision.
I don't think that is true. If you look there is very little stainless steel, inconel, monel, titanium, or carbon fiber in our cars despite the liberal use of these exotic materials in the Porsche race cars.
I think Porsche wanted to keep the street cars and the track cars in seperate categories. Of course, all that changed in 1993 when Wendelin Wiedeking came on the scene. I think it was a great move until the stylists started to interfere and the $1B DM Cayenne investment was made.

Anyway, I advocate stainless steel exhaust header studs, washers, and nuts. I think that is what should have been originally installed on our cars.

Mark

[Gunter]

Huh...???????
We're talking about studs that have been in there for ~30 years; not bad.

SS studs wouldn't necessarily be easier to remove if installed with thread locker.

SS doesn't necessarily have more tensil strength.

One can always replace mild-steel fasteners with SS if appropriate.

[john walker's workshop]

stainless on stainless isn't such a good idea. if you do it, use liberal amount of anti-seize. even that tends to bake away on exhaust fasteners.

[Nine9six]

I have been pretty successful with the following procedure...
Spray liberally with PB blaster the night before. Let soak...
Next day, heat around the stud with MAP or oxy acy torch till good and hot.
Now, take an ice cube with a pair of pliers and place it on the stud while spraying the base with more PB blaster. The quick cooling of the stud will alow PB to travel the thread root to the base of the case.
Repeat this process a minimum of 2 times; preferably 3.
On the third iteration try removing the stud. It should come out without breaking if it is not already stress fractured through the heat and vibration over 20-30 + yrs of use.
P.S. I concur with JW...dissimiliar metals are desirable for fasteners; same material...not so much. Unless of course, the galling of similar/same metals is your desired outcome
HTH

[Ned, NYNA11]

I remove the exchangers every 2 years to pass smog. At each reassembly I goop up the threads and nuts with "Neverseez" and snug the nuts down gently. The nuts come off easily every time.

[janz]

Just wondering if anyone has any info on the fellow who makes this tool. I had email communication with Chris and ordered the tool from him and payed through Pay Pal on Jan 5 th Since then I have not heard from him nor recieved the tool. I tried 3 times to email him but got no response. Hoping he is just real busy or has been side tracked. Does anyone know about this and how long should it take? I still would really like the tool as I will be doing my exhaust as soon as I get it. All I have heard is great things about the tool and the person who makes it. Another project to do while there is over 2 ft of snow on the ground here and another ft coming tomorrow.

[lucittm]

Chris takes a long time to answer emails but he will eventually reply.

Gunter,
I am not talking about the studs and the heads. I am talking about the nut-stud interface. We should not have to remove the exhaust studs on our cars to get the headers off. Removing the flange nuts usually requires a mechanical extraction of the damaged studs. When I pulled my headers off, three nuts came off normally. Six studs broke and the rest came off with the nuts. I replaced them all with 170,000 psi ARP fasteners that will not gall due to their "Stainless 300" proprietary metallurgy.

Ned,
Yours come off easily because you remove them every two years. We should not have to do that just to ensure that the nuts don't corrode onto the studs.

Mark

[cfc]

Have them removed with an electric discharge machine, tap desinegrator.

[john walker's workshop]

Originally Posted by mike curnow

Have them removed with an electric discharge machine, tap desinegrator.

not practical unless the heads are off and you have exhausted all attempts at removal and a tap is broken off.
nobody should just crank on the nut until the stud breaks. you need to heat each nut red with a oxy/acet torch and deal with one at a time. 99/100 you will not break a stud this way. sometimes the stud is just rotted/permeated all the way through with rust and that one will break.

[don gilbert]

i thought about stainless nut and washers, but isnt there some thermal dynamics going on that requires the factory hardware?

[DasBoot]

Originally Posted by Gunter

WD-40 is not a penetrating oil.

+1

PB Blaster is marginal at best.

Use this:

[cfc]

Originally Posted by john walker's workshop

not practical unless the heads are off and you have exhausted all attempts at removal and a tap is broken off.
nobody should just crank on the nut until the stud breaks. you need to heat each nut red with a oxy/acet torch and deal with one at a time. 99/100 you will not break a stud this way. sometimes the stud is just rotted/permeated all the way through with rust and that one will break.

An EDM will eat through any steel, it does not have to be a tap!

[Gunter]

Every family should have at least one EDM.

If not, load your 911 on a flatbed and go to the nearest facility that has an EDM.

Why not use a Carbon ARC cutter? That would really get the HE's off.

Please, No need to make it more complicated.
Like JW says: Heat the nut red-hot; it comes off.

I have no experience with MAPP but an Acetylene/Ox torch worked fine for me.
Two people is even better: One has the long Allen socket and the wrench, the other handles the torch.
Heat red-hot, step aside, the other guy opens the nut, steps aside, next nut...........and so on.

Keep a couple nuts on just loose so the HE's don't fall on you.