broken header bolt

[Chris Camaro]

from the time i sat in my car after my macanic put my headers on, i started it, and said hey , i hear a ticking sound, he said it was nothing, i said it sounds like a leak, he said it wasnt leaking.....

today after changing my plugs i was going to tighten my header bolts cus its been running like ****, first bolt on driver side... i thought hey, there is suposed to be a bolt there, but there isnt, so i got a mirror and flash light, the bolt is broken off inside the heads. im more pissed, cus he broke them while tightning them down during install and didnt tell me about it just thinking i would never know.

also a while back he put in my clutch, and broke my shifter boot and when i told him, he was like, ok. and never did ****, im very mad, thought id tell u guys this horrible story, not to horrible. but it is when ur car is out of commision and its ur only ride to work, wich is 30 miles away..... late guys

[BLLDOGG]

well, go back and confront him about both problems, if hes a big enough bum to not tell you and fix the mistake he made, you should have his nuts in a vise and his job.

[94fbody]

Find a new Mechanic.

[Chris Camaro]

guys got a link to a website with good header bolts?

[blacksport]

I had the same problem. Before I blew my head gaskets. I hear you though man.


I blew my head gaskets and I need my car to get to school/work etc. I'm bumming rides til my heads get back from shop.


I had a broken bolt in the same exact spot. Good luck getting it out, might as well buy a new head because you'll have to pull it off to get it out. I tried everything getting mine out. No way i could drill it out straight without pulling the head.


Go buy some copper gasket gasket sealer (I'd also pick up some felpro metal exhaust gaskets for it. The pacesetter gaskets suck!). Take that header off, get your new gasket and gasket sealer and put the sealer around the first exhaust port. Let it sit for about 30 minutes and harden up then put the header and gasket back on. Get some more gasket sealer (make sure to get the high temp stuff) and put it around the edges of the header (thick like your caulking a door) and let it dry for a couple hours. You'll be leak free.


Thats what I did and it lasted a long time til I had my last little mishap and it was leak free when I pulled my heads off. Its good stuff.


I would go rip off that shop though. Or find a way to get the guy back. Just my .02.

[99W68Firebird]

do not use the fel pro gaskets with pacesetter headers, i had crappy luck with mine and put the paper ones on and still have them on.

[blacksport]

My paper ones blew out. My felpro's worked great. I just dabbed a little hitemp gasket sealer on the edges and never had a problem.

My paper gaskets blew out on both sides after 10,000 miles. Plus the dont line up with the exhaust ports and block off alot of it. My felpro's line up perfectly. If you use paper gaskets be sure to trim them so they arent blocking off flow.

[jmihalchik]

if u pulled the header back off would the bolt stick out of the head at all? if so pull the header and vise grip it, as long as it is not x-threaded it will come out. And u can get flanged bolts at any local hardware store take an old bolt with you to make sure u get the correct length size and pitch. if the bolt does not stick out of the head, u can get a right angle adapter for your drill and get a reverse bit bout half the size of the bolt and it should come out.

[Chris Camaro]

pickin up my car tomorrow morning. my macanic claims it broke before he touched it, long time before he touched it, a guy i know who says he knows all kinds of stuff about being able to tell how old it is, looked and said that my macanic was telling the truth. but aparantly, he "forgot" to tell me. either way, a guy at work has a friend who works on cars, so hes gonna do it, says he has done alot, engine has to come out, hes charging 250