help wanted, best way to pull out a broken exhaust stud

[dehne]

well, one of the exhaust stud have broken on my car, and i need to get it out so i dont have a leaky exhaust, now the crap part is that its broken off in the head so i have nothing to grip onto, so what im after is a few ideas
thanks in advance
dehne

[colcol]

This is what i fear the most, as it is a cow of a thing to deal with, spray it with WD-40, get a centre punch, and put a mark in the centre of the broken stud and tap it a lot, as the shocks will move it a little bit and the WD -40 will work its way down, next go to an engineering supply place or Repco and get whats called a set of ezy-outs or screw extractors, the ezyouts are like a left hand spiral and when they 'bite' they should screw the broken stud out, the screw extractors have a spline on them and they 'broach' the stud, and then you can screw the stud out, a few tips, 1- drill the broken stud as far as you can, as you are taking pressure off the thread making it easier to undo, 2- as you put in the ezyout or the screw extractor you are putting more external pressure on the stud making it harder to come out, 3- tapping around the stud area with a ball peen hammer can help as it adds shockwaves that can loosen off years of cold welding, 4- try some freezespray on the stud, i have never used this and i thought it was dodgy until i saw my local ENZED dealer loosen off a frozen power steering connector on my power rack, it works!, 5- if it all goes wrong, take off the cylinder head and take it to an engineering shop with a thread disindegrator or Electronic Discharge Machine and they will be able to get it out without any damage, and it happens right on Christmas, hope this helps, Colin.

[dehne]

hi colin
thanks for the tips, will start with no1. im hoping this will work, i have found another option as well, using a small grinder with a real thin disc cut a flat screwdriver slot in it hope fully the first bit will work
thanks dehne

[dehne]

well went for the grinder and cut a small groove to fit the flat screwy in and half a can of lube and it came out pretty happy with that, and to make my day even better i pulled the clutch master out of the 90 so now to get that done,

[colcol]

You are very lucky Dehne, these exhaust studs usually weld themselves in an are terrible to get out, i had a VL Commodore that used to do the same, no troubles on my Alfa Romeo's as yet, Colin.

[dehne]

this was not on an alfa, thats why i put it in off topic, on my pajero tow car

[colcol]

Bloody Japanese rubbish!, Dehne your Pajero breaks exhaust studs, like my VL Commodore with the Nissan RB 30 motor, this sort of thing would never happen to a good Alfa Romeo, seriously, glad it turned out ok for you, Colin.

[dehne]

well if alfa got of there arse and made a 4wd i would not have defected, and yes i know they are bringing 2 versions of there 4wd here the problem is they are only 5 seaters, no point buying one of those.

[Anthony Sharp]

When Alfa get off there arses and build a 4wd it will be an Alfa cherokee with good ol septic studs that should make life interesting metric botls on the body and UNF on the running gear!!!

[colcol]

Or like the Ford Cortinas [yuk!], Body from England, so all Whitworth and British standard fine threads, Engines from Germany, so all Metric threads and Gearboxes, Diffs and Brakes from Australia, so all United National Course and Fine threads, Buy Alfa Romeo from Italy ALL Metric [yay!] as it should be, Colin.

[dehne]

either which way if its an alfa I will buy it, (except for the Arna) that what true lovers do