[46yblock]

Originally Posted by blucar

Many years ago I had to replace a broken exhaust manifold on the Dodge 413 engine in my motor home, during the removal process two bolts broke off flush with the head..
I tried a couple of 'easy-out' bolt extractors after first drilling a hole into the broken bolts. The first type of 'easy-out' would not get a good purchase on the bolt so I had to try others, finally found one that got a good bite into the bolt, however, it snapped when I put pressure to it.... Now I had a real problem, broken bolt with a broken bolt extractor stuck in the bolt.
I checked with several people for a solution, the common solution was remove the head and take it to a machine shop.
I tried one last hope, an old time mechanic that I knew.. "Ken" asked me if I had a torch, oxy/acet, I told him I did.. He suggested that I use a small tip, about an '0', set the flame to a neutral flame, put on goggles and heat the bolt extractor to the melt point, at which time the bolt extractor would blow out of the hole.
I had a hard time bringing myself to use a torch on the head, I finally mustered up the courage and lite the torch, following Ken's instructions.
Just as Ken said, when the bolt extractor started to reach the melt point it exploded out of the hole. Using a cobalt drill bit, I drilled out the remainder of the bolt, re-tapped the hole.. I then drilled out the other broken bolt, re-tapped the hole and installed the new manifold. I have never had much luck with most of the bolt extractors I have tried.

I had a similar incident with a 312 block. One engine mount bolt was broken flush. It probably happened during the car wreck that sent everything to the salvage yard decades before, as the engine ended up in a CocaCola COE truck, and then after that a 1 ton pickup. When I got it the crankshaft still had the COE fan bolted to it's snout, the setup which was never changed by the 1 ton owner.

I finally blew the bolt out with a torch. The block fluxing didnt show any cracks.