Snapped off Exhaust Manifold Bolt

[geno8r]

Hey, a few weeks back i was driving along & i heard this rattling, like metal hitting other metal through the engine bay falling to the ground. I pulled over & searched the road and found a snapped off bolt. I was following a tractor pulling around shopping carts so i thought it might have came off that & my tire had flicked it up or something.

Went to my mechanics today, he said it looks like an exhaust manifold bolt & the first place he looked for it to be missing there it was... an empty threaded hole.

It's the first bolt of the manifold at the front of the engine *opposite end of turbo, car is r33 gtst*

We had a good look at the manifold & you can see exhaust has creeped out leaving a black line. He said over time the heat will eat away at the gasket & it'll start making a swirling noise as it'll be leaking exhaust. Solution isnt going to be cheap seeing as all the guts around the RB25 like IC piping & starter engine all that sh#t near will have to be removed. He said he'll then need to drill out the old bolt & attach a new one. Will cost 100's he said, "looks like a shit of a job that one mate"

Anyway im up for a 100k service in about 7k so i thought when the timing belt has to be done i'll get the missing manifold bolt done too while the gear around the engine is removed.

Just wondering if anyone has had this problem? Dont know why it happened? I have pretty stiff shockies, they must jolt the engine around a bit & over time it picked on that weak spot bolt?

[yogi000]

I had 4 missing(snapped) on my r32 gtst........then broke one more trying to take the manifold off. Apparently u can buy a kit that has the bolt nuts and washers for all 12 of them. I'm not sure about that, a mechanic told me that.

But i went to nissan and bought 5 new sets and then got myself some eas- outs and got working.

[DAN00H]

don't take it back to the mechanic!!! it is going to cost you an arm and a leg by the sound sof him! as stated above, go to suprecheap/ repco/ autobarn etc and get some eziouts (make sure you check if it is a BOLT or a STUD - is there a section of the stud left in the head, or a hole?) if NOTING is left in there, it could just be a case that the bolt was not very tight to start with.

The head metal material heats up and expands faster than the metal that the actual bolt is made out of, when this happens, the already loose bolt is prone virbrating out. get a new manifold bolt from Nissan, when your car is stone cold see if it will screw in by hand (if nothing left in the hole), if it fits and is not flopping around like a co*k in a sock, then it shoudl be fine to use that bolt. while you are at supercheap/ repco/ autobarn etc, get some high temp thread lock. If the bolt is too loose when you have inserted it all the way, and the threadway is clean (no squashed threads), you can take your new bolt to a bolt/ nut and screw supplier and ask them for one that is a size thicker.

It sounds like a simple $5 fix to me (hot head, loose maniflod bolt....) you might even be able to find an SAUer that can help you. (I would but I'm in Canberra ) Sorry for the long post .... oh,the RSI/ OOS/ laterial epicondylitis....

[geno8r]

Cheers DANOOH. The bolt was snapped off, im not sure how easy it will be to get the other half out *i assume its still in there*? I dont know what the other end looks like or what’s behind that hole so yeh not sure about how it'll come out. What are these ezi outs?

I'll give Nissan a ring & try and get me a bolt then.

[Bl4cK32]

ezi outs are reverse threaded taps....basically u drill a small hole in the centre of the snapped stud. Then u screw this tap into the hole (which has a reverse thread on it) so as you do it up, it catches and undoes the thread from the stud.

I snapped one of the exhaust studs on my new motor. had to do this to get it out. When i put the new studs in i noticed how easy it was to over tighten them. Basically people must do the stud up uber tight, then the manifold nut hard as they can.

The heat from the exhaust will heat all this up, then snap the hot stud. So....just stick to the factory torque settings and dont over tighten the new std/nuts u wont have it happen again....

edit/ studs cost fa from Nissan....like $2 each from memory, and r31 ones are the same

[siksII]

as Bl4cK32 said, it is important to tighten them to factory specs, and make sure that they are all tightened to the same spec ie replace them all and do them all up to the same nm otherwise when the manifold heats up it it may warp and crack.

it is a shit job.

[DAN00H]

fortunately it is a bolt at the top, if it snapped, then just drill as described above. if you have basic tools you can do this job (or find a mate and borrow his/hers ) one thing I found usefu when doing manifold bolts like this was using a flexible drive off the drill - usually not enough room for the actual drill.

[JCMarshall_Law]

I've had to remove broken stud bolts in a RB30 before (I broke 6 when removing the headers, its something you really cant avoid).

For your job its prolly best if you take your whole manifold off so you can get to the bolt inside the head, you will prolly break a couple more but at least then you can replace the whole set. Never re-use stud bolts, they are cheap as. RB25's use standard metric studs and any exhaust shop could supply for around $2.

I wont pretend it is not a shit job, it is, but it is a great experence and if your a bit timid about doing things to your car, everything seems a bit eaiser after this job. It takes a while, thats why workshops charge so much to have it done. you woul be looking at about $400 - $600 for a workshop to do it, of about $50 and a days work for you to do it.

You will need the following things:

1) A reversible right angle drill (you will not fit a normal drill in there) hire one for $30 /day.

2) a couple of left hand fluted drill bits, a pilot and one to just fit insidt the stud bolt, leaving a milimeter between the threads and the hole, ie 10X1.5 metric stud, use a 5mm bit (5=10-1.5-1.5-1-1) (cobalt bits are best but good luck finding them with left flutes)

3) bolt pullers / ezouts / stud removers one to fit the hole in the stud, get the straight flute ones, if you get the twist flute ones, I have heard they can twist into the stud, make it expand, and cause more problems. Get good quality ones!!!!!!!

4) a good tool set, inc, a hole punch, hammer

5) a whole day.

Method:

1) punch a hole in the center of the broken stud bolt, spend the time to get this right in the center. If you dont drill down the center you could drill through the bolt into the head!

2)Drill down far enough into the broken stud bolt to get the ezout in there without bottoming out. Be carefull to keep the drill straight, take your time. This bit could hopefully result in the stud catching on the drill bit and comming out with the drilling action, thats why I said use left hand drill bits. It is not essential, but I found that when I was drilling (with right hand bits) the studs came loose and actually ended up screwing further in. If they dont come out in this step go to the next one.

3) tap the ezout into the hole with a hammer, be carefull, not to go to hard otherwise you will expand the bolt inside head then your in the shit.

4)This bit is important!!!, you want to twist out the stud with the ezout with out applying any bending to the exout, use a T piece from a socket set or two shifters eitherside of the ezout, apply even pressure. be really carefull, the last thing you want is a ezout broken off inside the solt because you have just made your problems 10 times worse.

Hopefully they all came out without a problem, bolt everything up with ALL NEW studs and makesore everything is at the CORRECT FACTORY TORQUE SPEC.

some people say lubricating everything with RP7 or WD40 for a few days before helps, but I'm not sure, I removed the manifold on my R33 (did'nt break any studs though) and the studs came out dry dispite 3 days of applying WD40.

Go on give it a go!!!!!

[geno8r]

Great reply JCMarshall_Law, cheers! Anybody happen to know the right Nm for the RB25 then? *seeing the car is r33 gtst s1.5*

[blackrb20silvia]

hey guys i just did this the other day broke all but three of them

i did not have the tools to take out the others was told that if i was taking out some i should replace all of them but some were stuck in the head and didnt brake

was told i need a special tool that removes studs its not a ezi out kit but it was big and went over the stud wound it opposite direction while grabing the stud

any way i tried the easy out on the others but did not want to brake the others that would not work

was told to spray inox on them for the next three days and so morn and night i sprayed them and they came out so damn easy it was not funny as soon as it broke free from the head i could finger screw them out

the spray makes a hell of a diff trust me

[geno8r]

Hey yogi000 or anyone else who know what nissan dealer, or phone number did you contact to get the bolts... I just rang up my local nissan dealer but they couldnt help me coz i didnt have my VIN Number on me, i'll ring'em back tomorrow but im still sceptical about them helping me with a 10 year old car + its an import? Thats why i want to know who to ring.

When i rang the guy & he said what kind of car is it? I said "Its a 95 nissan skyline, r33 gtst series 1.5", his reply. Owww thats one of them imports isnt it? :bonk: Derrr

[Gts-t]

Hey yogi000 or anyone else who know what nissan dealer, or phone number did you contact to get the bolts...  I just rang up my local nissan dealer but they couldnt help me coz i didnt have my VIN Number on me, i'll ring'em back tomorrow but im still sceptical about them helping me with a 10 year old car + its an import?  Thats why i want to know who to ring.

When i rang the guy & he said what kind of car is it? I said "Its a 95 nissan skyline, r33 gtst series 1.5", his reply.  Owww thats one of them imports isnt it?  :bonk: Derrr

I order alot of my parts thru nissan have never had a problem getting anything i wanted. When i had my motor out i noticed a had a couple that were snapped, no point just replacing one or two so i ordered a whole set from nissan. Pretty sure u can use the set from a vl as well. Anyway check it out because nissan can get anything ex japan.

Mic

[geno8r]

Owww and also, Im planning to get the bolts replaced when i get my 100k service which is in 7k times. The very very minimal leaking, will this cause any damage to anything else? like is there a gasket between the block edge & the manifold or anything there that might get extended wear? What im asking is should i order any other parts off nissan as well. I'll have to get a timing belt for the service too but i know i can get a Tomei one from UAS or whatever...

[Nismo_Boy]

Any one know what the factory torque settings are?

- Josh.

[blackrb20silvia]

hey guys you dont have to go genuinne nissan just take the part of the thread that is left to any parts shop and they can match it

i took just one bolt to REPCO and they had them in stock you dont need a part number

im pretty sure like 99% sure that they are

M10 x 1.25 head studs

or manifold studs what ever you want to call them

and i tried to find my torque settings but cant help there sorry

[Cubes]

Torque settings are in the engine manual which can be found floating around.

There is one stud that I couldn't get my torque wrench in to, I brought out the ol' Hand-o-meter.

[yogi000]

Hey yogi000 or anyone else who know what nissan dealer, or phone number did you contact to get the bolts...  I just rang up my local nissan dealer but they couldnt help me coz i didnt have my VIN Number on me, i'll ring'em back tomorrow but im still sceptical about them helping me with a 10 year old car + its an import?  Thats why i want to know who to ring.

When i rang the guy & he said what kind of car is it? I said "Its a 95 nissan skyline, r33 gtst series 1.5", his reply.  Owww thats one of them imports isnt it?  :bonk: Derrr

I used Steve Jarvin @ haberfield and the nissan dealer at Artarmon/chatswood. They've always helped me out without VIN.

[blackrb20silvia]

like i said it dont have to be nissan i got these from repco

M12 x 1.25 manifold studs

ask them to check on the thread tester must be M12 x 1.25

[Cubes]

I bought RB30 studs and used them in my rb25 head for bugger all.

Genuine studs were 2x the price.

[blackrb20silvia]

thank god someone listened to me

i mean this should not be such a big deal geno8r you just need to go to a knowledgable parts store and tell them what i have told u if they dont know what you are talking bout go round the corner these people should not be behind any counter

simple as that