Cylinder head bolts won't budge :mad:

[slomove]

I am in the process of stripping down a used ZX1 engine as spare parts donor. No problems so far, but the cylinder head bolts just won't come out (not any of them). I never had this problem with my old engine when I took the head off in the past.

 

Should I just get a more powerful impact wrench (and are impact wrenches recommended for such stretch bolt anyway)? Or just use a longer lever on the regular wrench?

 

I am concerned that something gives before the thread moves (the bolt itself, the T60 torx bit or the bolt head torx pattern), leaving me even in a bigger mess.

 

Anybody knows a good trick?

 

Thanks,

 

Gert

Edited November 15, 2009 by slomove

[WestTexasS2K]

Use a 1/2 breaker bar. They have much more torque than the average impact gun.

[catracer]

Slomove, Sounds like the core has been sitting for a while? The Torx fastener is an abomination that should be made illegal and the inventor locked away in a small, dark place. They are horrible and are produced and used only for the benefit of the original assembler, robots in the Ford factory....

 

If you haven't already, I'd soak the heads, perhaps several times, with PB Blaster or some other penetrating oil. And If you don't have one already, now might be a good time to invest in an impact driver. Said tool with suitable extension, and a carefully aimed 2-3#, short handled engineers type hammer, will probably give you the best chance of keeping the Torx bolt head intact enough to actually remove it in one piece. Try and keep any extension as short as possible, limiting torsion trying to twist the extension. Give it a gentle tap, soak, bigger tap, soak again etc. over time.

 

Nice thing about the impact driver is that it creates a LOT of downward engagement force as it rotates. Whereas one slip of a pneumatic impact will likly distort the Torx surfaces, making further attempts less and less effective.

 

Good luck. ...oh yea....ARP makes a real stud and nut kit that will serve indefinitly and is just a bit more than the throwaway head bolts you just removed.

[MHKflyer52]

 

Anybody knows a good trick?

 

Thanks,

 

Gert

 

Gert,

If you have the head off the block and you want to remove the studs you could always take a torch and heat the studs then spray them with water to cool them and make them hard after heating them up. This will usually help break the frozen studs grip and then throw the studs away and use new ones when you do the rebuild. Also use a stud extractor which grips low on the stud and provides more tourque to the studs.

[slomove]

Thanks for the tips. I tried to locate a manual impact driver bot none of the local shops had that.

 

So I went to work with a 3' extension and finally managed to break them lose without shearing the head off. The screeching sound made me shiver, though.

 

But these Torx bolts are indeed a PITA.

 

Gert

[Arya Ebrahimi]

It's been my experience that head bolts have a bit of "springiness" in them and they essentially absorb the impact from the impact gun. I've always had better luck with a simple breaker bar on the stubborn ones.