After being lucku on 3 v6 fieros (changing "ticky" manifold gaskets) I bought a fiero with 3 pre-busted manifold bolts.
It seems taht the previous owner did not do the "let it soak in PBblaster for 3 days on a row and start it up every evening to sink it in" method that works well for me.

The bolts are broken on the front and rear sides. Will I be pulling the head.
If that type of action is in order is it hard to do valve seals too?

Thanks in advance.

PS: does anyone in my area do this work? and for how much.
tag

quote Originally posted by NY_FIERO: After being lucku on 3 v6 fieros (changing "ticky" manifold gaskets) I bought a fiero with 3 pre-busted manifold bolts. It seems taht the previous owner did not do the "let it soak in PBblaster for 3 days on a row and start it up every evening to sink it in" method that works well for me. The bolts are broken on the front and rear sides. Will I be pulling the head. If that type of action is in order is it hard to do valve seals too? Thanks in advance. PS: does anyone in my area do this work? and for how much. tag

Is it the 4 studs that go into the head that are broken (3 of them)? If so, I would soak them in PB blaster and try to remove them without taking the head off, just cover up everything so no debris gets into the engine. You do not have to take the heads off to change seals, you can use compressed air. If you do not have all the tools necessary most machine shops should be able to do it (you take the heads off). If the broken bolts are in one of the aluminum intake manifolds, you could remove them and do a helicoil repair, or have a machine shop do it........Paul

I guess I was a bit non-descriptive
The broken bolts are exhaust manifold bolts.
The one on the firewall side looks tough / impossible to do while in the car.

quote Originally posted by NY_FIERO: I guess I was a bit non-descriptive The broken bolts are exhaust manifold bolts. The one on the firewall side looks tough / impossible to do while in the car.

If it were me, yes I would take the head(s) off. Some people would (if they could get to it) weld a piece to the stud and try to unscrew it. You may get lucky, you may not. You can take the heads off without removing the cradle, you just have to unbolt a lot of stuff, brackets, intake manifolds, grounds, battery connection, coolant crossover etc........Paul

the valve seals arent to tough, especially if you do pull the heads. you will need a valve spring compressor. most parts stores will rent you one free, leaving the cost of the tool as a deposit. bascily, you compress the sping, tap the retainers loose (sometimes need a pretty good whack), remove retainer, lift the spring out, and take of the o-ring, if it stayed on the valve. now you can remove the existing seal, and replace with new seal. make sure it goes all the way down. now, put the spring back, the retainer plate, put the new o-ring on - it goes on the 2nd indent on the valve, then put the 2 retainer halves in, and uncompress the spring. I find it help alot to put a crumpled rag in the combustion area, to keep the valve from dropping while compressing the spring, since you dont have a lot of room to get the retainers out.

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1985 Fiero SE - Plain Red V6 Coupe
3.1 Crane272 MSD 4.10-4spd DarthChip Borla
D.A.M.M. - Drunks Against Mad Mothers

I had to do this job three time now and the last time I did a little write up for my forum friends.
link is here... https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/065384.html

I'll agree with pulling the heads to do the seals.

It is very possible to do the manifold gaskets without pulling the heads. You can gain allot of room by loosening up the rear trans and engine mount nuts underneath and removing one dog-bone bolt and the front trans mount nuts. You can use a ratchet strap (trunk latch to engine front eye hook) to tilt the engine back quite a bit. You'll have a ton of room for a right angle drill on the firewall side.

I could not break heads from the intake manifold so I pulled both heads and intake off as an assembly. Once it was up on the bench I discovered that there were four studs, one on each corner, the intake has to come straight up off the heads. This is difficult to do in the engine compartment, however my hat is off to those who have been successful.

Even though the manifold bolts have been snapped off, I would go ahead and try the three day PB Blaster technique, this has worked for me before on a few "Fiero bolts".

Good luck with the repairs!

If you can swing the engine and cradle assembly down far enough to get room a good dremel tool and drill bit with an extractor will do the job. If the broken bolts are flush with the head surface you may need a little grinding bit to put a starter indentation in the center of the bolt so that the drill bit doesn't slide off center when you attempt to drill through the remainder of the bolt. After drilling all the way through it you can continue to increase the size of the hole by gradually using larger drill bits until you get close to the threads of the hole at which point you can spray antiseize lubricant inside it and allow it to sit for a bit before attempting to use the bolt extractor, by then the bolt should be hollowed out to the point where it just about collapses which allow you to remove it in pieces and then use a tap to clean up the threads in the hole. This is the proceedure I used eventhough the head was already off the car for a different reason.

iI'm watchin' a guy dig out his septic tank. He bends over the hole & accidentally drops a good screwdriver into the hole. He looks around, goes and gets his electric drill, throws it in the hole! Then he rolls up his sleeve, reaches into the hole, and retrieves both tools. I gotta ask him what's goin' on. He says "I'm not gonna put my hand in a hole full of S#!T for a screwdriver!!"

The moral of the story? There's already three tools in the S#!T. Go ahead, pull the heads, have 'em overhauled at a machine shop. Replace all the exhaust studs, put in helicoils if necessary. Do whatever it takes. You'll save a whole lotta cussin'.

quote Originally posted by Jim Gregory: iI'm watchin' a guy dig out his septic tank. He bends over the hole & accidentally drops a good screwdriver into the hole. He looks around, goes and gets his electric drill, throws it in the hole! Then he rolls up his sleeve, reaches into the hole, and retrieves both tools. I gotta ask him what's goin' on. He says "I'm not gonna put my hand in a hole full of S#!T for a screwdriver!!" The moral of the story? There's already three tools in the S#!T. Go ahead, pull the heads, have 'em overhauled at a machine shop. Replace all the exhaust studs, put in helicoils if necessary. Do whatever it takes. You'll save a whole lotta cussin'.

beautiful story. warms the heart.
yes, there are more things you can do while the heads are off. since your undoing the intake valves - clean them. the intake valves build-up alot of crap on them. soak them in some Berryman's or something. Lap the valves. but, be careful - each port is matched to it particular valve - dont mix 'em up. porting/gasket matching. you'll have all the intake, the exhaust manifolds & the heads all open for porting. free HP's waiting for you to grind 'em out.

lol - the screwdrivers already in the s#it - throw in the dremel!

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1985 Fiero SE - Plain Red V6 Coupe
3.1 Crane272 MSD 4.10-4spd DarthChip Borla
D.A.M.M. - Drunks Against Mad Mothers

Just got a quote from a service tech at a GM shop..
the job calls for 7.5 hours by the book.. without re-drilling broken bolts...
He said he'd do it on the side for 400.
I'll offer him a p4 computer or something for the labor
???????????

quote Originally posted by NY_FIERO: After being lucku on 3 v6 fieros (changing "ticky" manifold gaskets)

Hi- Might be having that problem myself.
Curious to know how you got access to the exhaust manifold against the firewall- I assummed you had to drop the entire engine.
Thanks, -JT

quote Originally posted by JT6666: Hi- Might be having that problem myself. Curious to know how you got access to the exhaust manifold against the firewall- I assummed you had to drop the entire engine. Thanks, -JT

You don`t have to drop the engine/cradle--but with the amount of time and knuckle busting put into them--its easier (in my opinion) just to drop the cradle. In this case , since the bolts are broken off in the head and it needs seals, ect. I would just buy a re-condtioned head--last time priced auto-zone had them for 125.00 each and a local machine shop that pushes these out the door had them for 100.00 each. I think the quote by the same shop to recondition the same head was allmost double...lol....