[urq] RE : Damn intake manifold

[Louis-Alain Richard]

In my case, since these very long bolts (65mm) are indeed "welded"
inside the IM by corrosion, the solution was to cut them at IM-head
interface with a stand-alone thin metal saw. This was made possible by
carefully inserting the blade between the head and the manifold without
ruining the soft aluminum manifold mating surface. Granted, the area
around the bolt is not anymore straight, but it is sealed correctly.

After the IM was on my bench, I was able to remove the bolts by a
careful use of a drill bit, a punch and some energy... The corrosion is
actually the force that prevents you to turn the bolt's head. And it is
not very deep into the hole, so drilling the bolt from both ends was
enough to remove the remnants with a good blow.

HTH,

Louis-Alain


> 
>   The problem now is the existing IM.  I've gotten 5 of the 8 bolts
> off with it in the car, they weren't even that bad.  But the bolts
> (which you would think would be hardened) are easy to spin out of, and
> I've done that on two of them, and they are quite shallow, so they are
> essentially useless.  There is not enough room to get a hammer in
> there and drive an oversized 7mm hex in there, so it looks to me like
> I will have to take the head off (and waste a new set of OEM head
> bolts that had a mere 200 miles on them, not to mention a new head
> gasket) to get these final bolts.  And, as anyone here knows, getting
> the head off these is a very involved affair.  So this is a call for
> anyone with a creative idea on how to get these damn bolts out without
> taking the head off.  There is not enough room to get a drill down
> there, and you can't see the bolt heads without using a mirror anyway,
> so even if there was, that would seem to be a poor idea.