Shit...broken manifold stud

[mardak at cogeco.ca (Mark)]

Allyn wrote:

> i agree with larry here.


The statement Larry was referring to said to just light a candle and let 
the melted wax go on the threads.  I agree this won't do squat unless 
the part is hot enough to melt the wax itself and draw the wax in (which 
isn't acually much).  BUT...


> i think the whole wax thing - to melt the wax on the head, you would 
> have to get the head hot enough to melt the wax, which would also 
> probably be hot enough to break the frozen stud.


BS.  Heat alone isn't NEAR as effective...  This is an old school trick 
that's been around for ages.  Tried and tested...


> ...in other words, just get the head hot, dont worry about the wax. the 
> aluminum expands at a better rate than the steel, so the stud will 
> loosten up when everything is hot.


Have you even TRIED using wax Al?  I believe you wouldn't be saying 
"don't worry about the wax" if you've removed hundreds of broken studs 
like I have (not to mention the untold amount my boss removed over his 
career).  Most of the studs I removed were situations where bringing it 
to the shop was the last resort, after they tried everything they knew 
to remove them (including heat and chemicals).  It's actually pretty 
damn amazing.  Try it once, I guarantee you'll keep a candle in your 
toolbox from then on...  If you've got a part with 2 studs that are 
broken, try one with wax and one without if you don't believe me.  The 
wax will even travel "uphill"...

I believe the original question was about removing the studs from a cast 
iron manifold, which is usually alot more difficult than removing one 
from an aluminum head...

BTW, the wax trick works REALLY well on threaded oil galley plugs in 
heads or blocks.  Quickly heat JUST the plug with an oxy/acc torch until 
it glows dull red (unlike a stud, where you want to heat around it). 
Remove heat and touch the candle to it (let it cool a bit first - the 
wax will ignite if touched to glowing metal).  Let it cool down, and 
it'll come out with your fingers (heating it to glowing "forges" the 
plug and it shrinks a bit after it cools).  This trick is especially 
useful for these plugs since they're usually frozen in there REALLY 
well, have usually been untouched since the engine was new, and strip 
easily...  Removing these plugs is different than studs, since you can't 
heat a stud to glowing along it's "buried" length to "forge" it (wrong 
word, but I don't know the proper term) without heating the area around 
it to the same temp.  Every time I did this it blew me away how a plug 
that was on the verge of stripping would come out with my fingers after 
doing the above procedure...

Don't knock it till you've tried it...


Mark.
75
77
80 S
81 S  x3
81 Caddy