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intake bolt woes....*edit: weber swap complete w/ some pics pg 3*


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ok heres the situation, after attempting a simple intake manifold swap(stripped down intake with a weber replacing stock intake w/ hicrappy), there was one bolt that broke off flush with the head, and I've tried numorous things: pb blaster, heating, reverse drill bit, ez-out, etc... unfortunately when I was drilling the hole, I didnt get it perfectly centered so pretty much I got most of the bolt out, but the hole is fubar. what are my options? I have a couple of spare mystery heads in the basement which I got from ryan, but I'm not prepared for swapping heads, and I'm practically broke at this point, but if I replace the heads I will most likely want to get the valves lapped or whatever and have the head milled and replace the valve seals etc..

 

anyways I'm about to throw tools at things that break so Im gonna take a little break... some input/advice/help plz

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ouch thats the worst.

 

well you can always try to JB weld a helicoil in place. I did it sucessfully once.

that may have been just pure luck too.

um bigger bolt?

 

r/r the head is of course the right choice.

 

r/r?

 

anyways this is also my daily driver, not meant to be a project but.... bleh

 

any chance of it NOT leaking if I just put the intake manifold on minusthe one bolt..?? I know I should do things right but theres a reason why I own a couple subarus other than the fact I love them...

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Ok here's what i've done in the past much like a helicoil they make an insert that you can put in there talk to you local parts store or even a machine shop to find out if they have these in your bolt pitch,

 

 

The procedure usaually is to drill the whole 3 or 4 drill sizes bigger then what you need then use the tap they give you with the kit, thread it in and insert the oversized helicoil, done it on older bugs, soobs, and all kinds of american rigs.

 

 

Other option is to oversize yout hole and use a bigger bolt for this you will probably have to drill the hole in your intake a little bit bigger and use a stud and a nut to reinstall

 

Good luck

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no need to tear that head off the block. follow instructions of the previous post.

 

i'd have to see the hole to determine what i'd do. i'd look to enlarge the hole as little as possible. the intake bolts aren't torqued very tight at all so you don't need much to work with. does the stock sized bolt fit in there at all? i'd find the smallest sized bolt that will fit...like the next size up from stock. tap the threads to that bolt and drill the intake hole out larger.

 

i'd drill the head as little as possible.

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2 bolts will hold just fine. may need to change intake gasket earlier than usual. but its not going to stop you from putting it back together and have a running and driving motor.

 

i had 2 motors like this just fine

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Yeah - I did the two bolt thing for a while also - works fine for a while (I replaced when I had a chance - it was a side of the road gasket replacement when I broke one)

 

Best bet - clean the hole out real good, FILL the hole with JB weld, then sand it smooth on top, dill, tap and heli-coil it for a quality thread interface. JB weld will work fine as the manifold bolts are only 14 - 16 Ft-Lbs. Any more torque and you will screw the gasket, and maybe break the bolts anyway. Remember to shove a shop rag in the intake while doing all this to prevent crap from falling in there.

 

GD

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some of that tacky sealant they use on water pumps may help if the fix is questionable or the two bolt method is used. if others have done the two bolt method and you don't want to try other options i'd use some of that tacky gasket prep stuff and try that. it's an easy enough job an shouldnt' leave you stranded that it may be worth a try since others have gotten it to work.

and be sure both surfaces are spotless.

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ok... the hole is fubar, helicoil and drilling/retapping is out of the question, the bolt would have to be larger than the hole in the intake to have any decent threads left. I'm gonna try some jbweld or something similar. btw its one of the long bolts that broke.

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you could drill out the intake manifold hole to accept something larger.

can you post a picture of the fubar'ed hole? it probably is fixable but easier to see and suggest a specific plan of attack than just guess.

 

i would use gasket maker with the JB weld fix, i'm not a fan of JB weld. seen it crumbled apart too many times....at like 10,000 or 20,000 miles after using it. that's not reliable enough for me.

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you could drill out the intake manifold hole to accept something larger.

can you post a picture of the fubar'ed hole? it probably is fixable but easier to see and suggest a specific plan of attack than just guess.

 

i would use gasket maker with the JB weld fix, i'm not a fan of JB weld. seen it crumbled apart too many times....at like 10,000 or 20,000 miles after using it. that's not reliable enough for me.

 

I dont like the fact that i have to use it either... if this doesnt work what I think I will do is drill it out a bit bigger and jb weld a stud in place... and hopefully something will be reliable for long enough to get what i need to rebuild my extra heads and get them machined and get the gaskets so I'm all ready.

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Just a thought and may not even be a good one.

What about that liquid metal they have now for body repairs instead of the JB Weld stuff? I hear it works very well but haven't heard of any one using it in this application.

You could be the ginny pig!!:grin: Stumpy

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Just a thought and may not even be a good one.

What about that liquid metal they have now for body repairs instead of the JB Weld stuff? I hear it works very well but haven't heard of any one using it in this application.

You could be the ginny pig!!:grin: Stumpy

 

I think they're pretty much the same thing, just differant brand names n such.

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I think they're pretty much the same thing, just differant brand names n such.

In that case I vote with GD and the TIG welding.

I know they make aluminum stick rods and gas rods but they are harder to work with than a tig welder, I have been told.

Don't have access to a tig my self, only a stick/gas set up as you do.

Good luck, Stumpy

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If you really want to do it right, take it to a cylinder head shop and have it TIG welded and tapped, but frankly JB weld would take care of it too. If you need help I have a four day weekend comming....

 

GD

 

Good, then you will have time to ship my shocks:D :-p

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everything is back together, I havent yet drilled and tapped the jbwelded hole yet, but so far with a bunch of rtv and new gaskets and letting the rtv cure for a bit before tightened down the intake helped. no coolant leaks from the intake after running it for a bit. so I guess problem *solved* for now. now i just need to tune the carb right and figure out why my idle is so jumpy, I think my vac advance might be bad because it wasnt so weird on the other subaru.

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well its back together and runs great, still need to sort out a minor linkage problem but anyways I took some pics along the way:

 

 

after a few hours of scrubbing:

P6280636.jpg

 

the hole filled with jb weld:

P6290645.jpg

 

comparing the original intake with the weberized one:

P6280640.jpg

 

P6300648.jpg

 

P6300647.jpg

 

P6300649.jpg

 

P6300650.jpg

 

and what keeps me sane later in the day after several hours of work/sitting around:

P6280639.jpg

 

and yes, the white paint makes it go much faster than it did before :headbang: AND the clearance is just barely enough for the tall weber filter :banana:

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