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Trying to remove my cylinder heads today and both heads have a frozen bolt. The bolt that is frozen is the middle bolt on the outside of the head. Ironically it is the same bolt on both heads. It seems that my options are to cut the head of the bolt off, lift off the head, then try to extract to bolt or try heating the block a bit to see if that will free up the bolt. I am leary of heating the block. The last thing I need is to crack a perfectly good block. Any ideas?

After I get the heads off I am wondering which head studs you would recommend? I read the posts about switch from bolts and it sounds like a good idea.

Thanks
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Unfortunately someone used an incorrect bolt to fasten the heads to the block.

Take a blunt object a solid bar the same or larger size than the head of the fastener. Give it a few whacks with a BFH.

Try attaching a vice grip as hard as you can to the head. Have one person rotate the vice grip while the other rotates the allen tool. It helps to try to rotate first tightening a bit then counter clockwise.

Hope this helps
And one more suggestion...

Weld a nut onto the top of that thing, then put your impact wrench onto it. Start at a lower pressure impact setting and let the wrench hammer for a while. I find the steady vibration at lower pressure often does the trick on a frozen bolt better than putting my impact gun on the highest torque setting.
...This is what I would try, not everyone is going to have this equipment at their disposal:

1. With a Hand-Held Sledge Hammer...say 4 Pounds, hammer on the Head of the Bolt 'Down' in an Action as you would to 'drive a Nail into wood'. This can loosen the threads, or even Snap the Head Off. THEN try the Impact Wrench.
You can hit the bolt head 'Side-ways', but you take the chance of hitting and damaging the Head.
'Shock' is a 'Tool' Often used in the Machine Shop.

2. If you have access to a Acetylene Torch, Heat the Head of the Bolt Up, RED HOT! and let it air cool down, this will loosen the threads up. I would NOT try to Melt the Head off using a 'Cutting Torch', you'll Damage the Head!
And be advised that when the Bolt Head is Heated Up to Red Hot, and cooled, you have annealed (softened) the Hex in the Head, making it subject to being 'Stripped' when next using the Impact with a 'Allen' Socket. BUT, annealing makes the Steel Easier to Drill.

...a 'Sharp HSS Drill'(High Speed Steel) will Not cut a Grade 10 Allen Head Bolt! The 'Core' of the Bolt is Harder than HSS! It will take a Carbide Drill(very expensive). And Not By-Hand!, you will not be able to put enough force behind it! And Not with the Engine in the Vehicle! You'll need to mount the Engine Block on a Mill Table, and use a Carbide End-Mill to cut it, with Enough Down-Force.

Good-Luck with It!

P.S. I once 'tore' a Frozen 3/4" Grade 10 Allen Bolt, 8 Inches Long, In Half, using a 1" Drive 800 Lb/Ft Impact Wrench, after 'Hammering' On It (with the Impact Wrench), Continuously for Nearly an Hour! We Did NOT Heat the Bolt before-hand. I believe we Did Hammer on it, before using the Impact Wrench.
...3 One other method:
This is Risky and Dangerous!! A Last 'Desperate' Resort, used Only when All Else Fails!!

Again with the Acetylene Torch...Heat the Head up, evenly to RED HOT. Stand Back and Poor a 'Bucket' of cold water over the Bolt. Expect a Steam 'Explosion'! This 'Should' Crack the Head, making it easy to Snap the Bolt Head Off using that Sledge Hammer. This can Risk Cracking the Head, Itself!
you twisted an L shaped allen tool? i'd try a quality socket style hex tool as in George's pic with a 1/2" breaker bar. worst case it won't turn just grind the head off down into the washer, no drills or torches needed with such easy access. then the remaining bolt can be heated near the block and removed with vice grips ...

but like i said that's worst case, i'll be surprised if a quality hex bit socket doesn't turn it right out. a couple good smacks and applying heat to the bolt head can only help
Last edited by 4vandproud
Sorry we weren't clear before.
We were using a 1/2" drive Allen brand hex key socket with the 30" breaker bar, not an "L" shaped key. We also gave a Snap-On 1/2" impact wrench with 150 PSI air its opportunity too. Nothing.
We return to the project Friday.
We're going to cut off the twisted bit of the hex key to leave just what we need to engage the socket in the bolt head and try the Snap-On impact again. Or a bigger one. I have a 1" drive electric version I can adapt down.
If that doesn't work, I think we'll be cutting the head off the bolt. Probably use a cut off blade in a small angle grinder.
Easy access with the engine out on a stand.
i just asked if it was an L key because they might not have used great tool steel for someting only intended to be used by hand. i'd gently warm the block in the area where the bolt is sunk with a propane torch, again very gently maybe several times to let the heat soak in before going at it again. absolutely no where near hot enough to harm anything just like normal operating temp

a little heat can be good
Allen socket bolts are not the best of ideas to use on high tensile loaded applications.

Unfortunately they strip out very easily. That is probably why torx seem to be so common now on new cars?

Chances are that bolt is going to snap off right near where is enters the block.

In that case be prepared to bring the block to a machine shop to have it bored out like Marlin has suggested.
Don't misunderstand, I'm not wishing that (any bad luck) on you.

Frozen head bolts are common on the old 2.0 L Fords with the aluminum heads and iron blocks. Not necessarily on a Cleveland block.

The choice of failure areas are not voluntary on your part. They are going to be, 1) the bolt comes loose and all is good (very possible) 2) the bolt snaps just above the top of the block (highly likely)3) the bolt comes loose but takes a part of the block with it (possible but not often seen).

You won't know until you roll the dice. You really need to soak where the bolt goes into the block with penetrating solvent. PB Blaster works well for us here.

Sometimes you need to heat the bolt red hot, then let it cool. Of course that sets the PB Blaster on fire since it is largely kerosene and you would have to cut the head of the bolt off to remove the head, then use a "stud puller" on it.

Frankly, if it doesn't come loose the first couple of shots with the impact wrench, it is a much safer procedure to take the entire mess to a machine shop and let them do it.

At least you won't break the block casting that way but using an end mill to get the broken stud out isn't as simple as it sounds.

You need to do that on a "mill". Once it is all set up, then yes, it's a piece of cake really.

You mill the stud out then you still need to use a tap to get the remainder of the bolt threads out of the block.

The Devil is in the details, i.e., getting it there and setting it up on the machine. Wink

I wish you the best of luck and a simple and easy solution. Smiler
Last edited by panteradoug
As has been said, a really stuck head bolt simply cannot be removed with the engine in the car. Bite the bullet and pull the engine for convenience in working on this difficult problem. It will be easier to cut the bolt head off and remove the 60-lb head over the cut-off bolt shank- maybe with help.

After the head is off, if the shank cannot be removed with the tools at hand and you are familiar with an oxyacetylene welding torch, I'm always successful using the cutting torch adapter as long as the bad fastener is in iron! The method is simple: put the cutting torch directly on the stub bolt until the bolt is glowing bright red. Then while wearing protective clothing, hit the cutting-oxygen lever and watch the molten bolt liquify and shoot out in a fountain of molten steel.
This is why-
-1)- the head must be off to access the bottom of the cut off bolt
-2)- you must wear protective clothing, as the glowing scraps will be at 1200-up degrees F
-3)- the engine must be out of the car and away from it!

Once things cool down, add some threading oil and run a tap thru the empty hole to remove rust and tiny oxidized bits of bolt; the original block threads will be completely unharmed and can be reused.

Many machine shops will use this method in lieu of the more costly setting the whole block up on a big vertical mill, dialing it in precisely and milling the bolt remnants out.
We were able to get them out this evening. I started with the impact gun, hitting it with the vibrations, rocking the bolt back and forth with forward and reverse, tapping it with a hammer. That basically resulted in stripping the hex head pattern from the bolt. So I moved to plan B, cut the heads off the bolts and deal with them with the heads off the block. Once the heads were removed from the block we had access to the bolt threads and hosed them down with penetrating oil. After numerous applications of the penetrating oil and somewhat gentle tapping on the bolt they loosened up enough to remove them from the block. By hand. Literally removed the first one bare handed. Vise grips were used on the other but they are out. No trauma to the block or my wallet! Lol

Had this guy in the block in one of the coolant drains. Any ideas what it would be used for?

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