Hi all, hope you have had a great Christmas and are looking forward to the new year.
My question is, is it easiest to loosen the header nuts with the engine hot or cold? Got a good 2nd hand set of original headers and collector box, so thought I'd give it a go whilst I've got a few days spare.
Thanks in advance for any advice!👍🏻
:popcorn:
They are made of toffee you'll be luck to get them out in 1 piece no matter what you do
Good luck.
:cheers:
As Seth says they can be a bit of a so and so. Personally I'd take them off cold, but if you haven't had them off before, personally I'd take the oil cooler off first so you can get the socket with extender on it directly onto the bolt(s) itself (esp those in the centre). I'd also put some Plus Gas (ideally) or if not WD40 on the bolt threads a couple of timesa day in the preceding days before attempting to undo them, also with the socket and the extender bar on, just give the nuts a bit of a tap before attempting to undo them (Plus Gas gets drawn into the thread a bit easier than WD40)
May sound a bit of a hiatus, but they standard bolts are quite soft and prone to snap unless they have been "treated" prior by some previous owner taking them out and re-assembling using copaslip (or similar) on the threads to stop the bolts jamming in the bolt holes.
Just take you time and take it easy and they should come out, if they do snap, then its an engine out job and take it down the local engineering firm to get the offending bolt drilled out
Lots and lots of Plus Gas!!
Good luck :onya:
Did mine 2yrs ago. Soaked in 3-1 oil for a week. Took 'em out cold, very gently. Some say tighten 1/8 turn before starting to loosen. I replaced the bolts with 8mm x 6mm stainless studs.
If you don't have plus gas try a bit of diesel, stinks but does the job.
The best ive ever used by far, dont know plus gas but this stuff just works. https://www.eeuroparts.com/Parts/76198/Rost-Off-Max-Ice-Rust-Penetrating-Lubricant-9oz-0893241002/
Mate in aviation swears by "Mouse Milk".
Please don't ask.........l suppose they use a rotary milking shed just like cows but a bit smaller :hat:
Quote from: Kiwifruit on Tuesday, 01 January 2019, 09:36 PM
Mate in aviation swears by "Mouse Milk".
Ah - but that's for fixing squeaks :lol:
FREEZE Off from TTP??
hope you had better luck than me.
Soaked the bolts for a week.. only 2 came out clean. The others snapped. Now I'm busy drilling them out and re-tapping the threads and putting helicoils in.
Fretting about taking them headers off for the last couple of years.
Now I did it and they all came out clean. Only the last one made jarring sound all the way out.
I have been dousing them with WD40 every now and then. Now a few light hammer taps on the hex key, tightened them a touch till I heard a clack and then wound them out. The jarring one did not make the clack sound. Done on the cold engine.
I guess I am one of the lucky ones. :boogie2:
Yeah, great result Andre. Fitting a full Yoshi?
My black came out clean also, been 'Nicklesliped' now, so should be fine, haven't tried the blue. They're a bugger to get back in & torque up right. Mine must of got just right by themselves even with the original gaskets, no leaks either.
It's a huge moment of relief as the last one comes out without snapping off.
My advice to anyone that gets the squealing/jarring noise as it comes out is to spay more penetrating oil/PlusGas on it..Take it back in a bit and then out again.
The last time I had one do this I carried on going and it got tighter and tighter and then snapped off (years ago on my first Bandit) :furious:
Another tip is that if the Allen Bolt heads have rounded off, is to bash a 12mm multi point socket over the whole head and then unscrew them :onya: :onya:
Quote from: grog on Sunday, 02 June 2019, 07:01 PM
Yeah, great result Andre. Fitting a full Yoshi?
No. Still to painful to talk about it yet :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :facepalm:
When I am ready I'll make it a new thread.
If/when you get them out, consider changing to galvanized studs and copper nuts, it's a much more forgiving combination.
Quote from: RickC on Monday, 03 June 2019, 10:48 PM
If/when you get them out, consider changing to galvanized studs and copper nuts, it's a much more forgiving combination.
Yep, Picking some up this afternoon after work. I managed to drill out 4 of the studs that snapped off on the weekend (6 out of 8 snapped) and re-tapped the threads. Still have 2 more to go. Slow going, but its working.
Trick was that I used one of the Suzuki studs that snapped off and drilled it out down the centre in my drill press. I then found a nut that the broken stud would screw into, which allowed me to then screw it back onto a broken stud with the nut joining it all together.
Being that I pre-drilled the broken off stud down the middle, this then helped me centre the drill for the pilot hole down the centre of the broken stud.
Made things much easier to line up and no need for a second person to eye ball the drill angle from the side.
Used a 4mm drill as the pilot drill hole. Then once that got through - which is where you need the patience and a slow drill speed. Each stud took me about 15 to 20 minutes to drill through. That is with breaks to allow the broken stud and drill bit to cool down and not get too hot, but also using a slow drill speed as well.
Once the pilot hole was done, I then used a 6mm long drill - which cut through really quickly.
I then used a 6.8mm drill that came with the M8x1.25 tap I bought. This is the drill size needed for the tap to re-thread the hole.
I also bought some really long drill bits which are about 150mm long. Hence also why it takes a long time to drill the pilot hole - push too hard and the drill bit will snap. But the extra length is what you need to get to the broken studs if the ones closest to the frame snap. Otherwise your drill will hit the frame. Using the longer drill bits and taking your time means you don't need to take the engine out of the frame for those studs if they snap off.
I couldn't buy a long 6.8mm drill - special order at one shop and no one else had anything in stock and I wasn't going to wait several days to finish the job. But the shop had a 17/64 long drill bit in stock. This equates to a 6.7469mm drill which is almost nothing in difference to a 6.8mm drill and works perfectly with the M8x1.25 tap - aluminum head also helps with the metal being soft. May not work as well if it was hardened steel or something harder than aluminum.
Anyway, take your time and lots of patience and it works out fine. That said - I also bought a helicoil kit to have on standby just in case.. :) if not, if will come in handy for another project no doubt.
Great write up mate, well done. :onya:
Quote from: KiwiCol on Tuesday, 04 June 2019, 03:13 PM
Great write up mate, well done. :onya:
Thanks.
I thought everyone might find the information on the drill bit sizes etc handy if they encounter broken studs.
Quote from: RickC on Monday, 03 June 2019, 10:48 PM
If/when you get them out, consider changing to galvanized studs and copper nuts, it's a much more forgiving combination.
Decided against it as there will not be room enough to use a socket.
Nickleslip it is.
Quote from: Andre on Tuesday, 04 June 2019, 08:33 PM
Quote from: RickC on Monday, 03 June 2019, 10:48 PM
If/when you get them out, consider changing to galvanized studs and copper nuts, it's a much more forgiving combination.
Decided against it as there will not be room enough to use a socket.
Nickleslip it is.
Plenty of room if you use a extension bar on the end of the socket.
Quote from: BlueDragon on Tuesday, 04 June 2019, 09:04 PM
Quote from: Andre on Tuesday, 04 June 2019, 08:33 PM
Quote from: RickC on Monday, 03 June 2019, 10:48 PM
If/when you get them out, consider changing to galvanized studs and copper nuts, it's a much more forgiving combination.
Decided against it as there will not be room enough to use a socket.
Nickleslip it is.
Plenty of room if you use a extension bar on the end of the socket.
Concern is about available distance between the nut and the pipe for the socket.
Quote from: Andre on Tuesday, 04 June 2019, 09:13 PM
Quote from: BlueDragon on Tuesday, 04 June 2019, 09:04 PM
Quote from: Andre on Tuesday, 04 June 2019, 08:33 PM
Quote from: RickC on Monday, 03 June 2019, 10:48 PM
If/when you get them out, consider changing to galvanized studs and copper nuts, it's a much more forgiving combination.
Decided against it as there will not be room enough to use a socket.
Nickleslip it is.
Plenty of room if you use a extension bar on the end of the socket.
Concern is about available distance between the nut and the pipe for the socket.
its all good.
I just checked as I bought exhaust studs and nuts today after work.
There is room.
The nut size that was provided with the exhaust studs are 1/2 inch - which is about a 13mm socket (actual size is a real 1/2 inch which is 12.7mm).
using a socket for a 3/8inch drive, the socket fits fine and there is room between it and the exhaust header. Not much room, but there is room and the socket doesn't touch the header when tightening everything up.
13mm or 1/2 inch socket for a 1/2 inch drive won't fit due to the drive size - it will hit the headers so not enough room.
But as long as the socket is for a 3/8 inch drive then you will have no problems.
Thank you! Very much appreciated. :onya:
Enough room if you use 1/4 inch drive, 13mm socket specially made for this purpose using drill and grinder :cheers:
Nice capping nuts there
@mlivkovich and thank you for the info!
@mlivkovich Nice.. I don't think I could bring myself to grind up any of my expensive sockets/tools to do that. I cringe at the thought.. I'd have to go buy some el-cheapo stuff if I was doing that.
I use the 3/8 inch drive as that is what one of my torque wrenchs is, so that I can make sure that the torque settings are right and I don't have to use adapters to use smaller size 1/4 drive sockets.
That is what I did, bought cheap socket and sacrificed it. 1/4 inch wrench is handy but I had to tighten that nuts by "feeling", never had problem :cheers:
Quote from: mlivkovich on Wednesday, 05 June 2019, 01:12 PM
That is what I did, bought cheap socket and sacrificed it. 1/4 inch wrench is handy but I had to tighten that nuts by "feeling", never had problem :cheers:
Yeah, I used to do the same thing for a lot of years. But decided one day to go to the expense of buying several sized torque wrenches.. Made me realise just how useful they are but also that what I thought might have been "about right" was in fact no where near it at times..
So I use the torque wrenches all the time to make sure things are done right.
Thanks for all the advice guys. Well 7 out of the 8 came out fine! 1 snapped leaving about 3mm protruding. Got a stud extractor set and more plus gas. Fingers crossed!
Quote from: Charliewag on Saturday, 13 July 2019, 09:21 AM
Thanks for all the advice guys. Well 7 out of the 8 came out fine! 1 snapped leaving about 3mm protruding. Got a stud extractor set and more plus gas. Fingers crossed!
Be VERY VERY careful using a stud extractor, because if that snaps off you are totally fooked..
Good Luck :onya: