Sheared exhaust manifold bolt, any hacks?

Hi and welcome.
I'd remove manifold and replace stud.

Yes, i've decided to have a go at it, it depends on whether i can get a drill into the stud but i've looked at a couple of youtube videos and it might be a bit less work than i thought? The first thread i read was talking about removing the front bumper, the top bracket, all the radiators and the turbo! I am sure that won't be necessary, but we'll see!

Where is the bolt sheared? The nature of the failure will determine the difficulty of the repair. You may not want to remove the manifold yet.

It's the furthest bolt to the left as viewed from the front of the car, behind the cobra pipe and the power steering bracket etc - I'll have to remove these to be able to see it but I think it's pretty flush with the head, judging by the half inch or so which is missing from the stud!

Its really not that bad to remove the manifold and turbo as one piece. You are going to have a **** time trying to drill that out when you can't see what you're doing.

Radiator fans come out easy too.

My opinion may be skewed as I've had my motor in and out three? Times

Ex studs are a genuine Saab problem.. Failure is expected and these often travel in multiples.
I've learned over the decades that it's Best to have a Saab shop deal with the problem.
Expense is irrelevant.
Think on the $$ saved.... as you accidentally drill into the cyl head trying to fit some crappy 'extractor'... or the extractor itself snaps off in the head.
That's a whole new world of 'fun'.

Ditto, the last thing you want to do is break off an easy out in there. Getting the hole drilled in the center of the stud can be challenging too. Best thing too do would be to replace all the studs with new stainless studs. Ive done it twice now & no more issues except the occasional outer studs loosening a tad

davide c said:

Ex studs are a genuine Saab problem.. Failure is expected and these often travel in multiples.

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Usually a sign of worn or broken motor mounts, not a Saab specific issue.

Agreed, definitely.

If it's broken off flush with the head, and you're sure you won't be able to grab it with locking pliers or whatever, you may want to leave the manifold in place as it, plus a drill guide, will help you drill into the dead center of the stud so you can get into it with an easy out. You will ultimately need to remove the manifold, but it makes a great guide at first.

Edit: Stick something like this into the hole in the manifold, then drill through the center.

Actually, if you're SUPER lucky, you could get away with not removing the manifold, especially if you use a left hand drill bit. However, I think that would be a bit risky and I'm not sure I'd try it. But I might.

bob3000 said:

Usually a sign of worn or broken motor mounts, not a Saab specific issue.

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U know i never thought of that but it makes sense.

Theres a thread floating around here somewhere where a guy took and made a spacer to fit inside of the stud hole of the manifold and used it as a drill bit guide to drill the center of the stud. I actually tried it once and it worked pretty good but my broken stud was in there so hard that I got scared of breaking off the easy out and took the head to the Machine Shop. They ended up installing an insert

Oops, i missed Jvans post

paulbagnall17 said:

It's the furthest bolt to the left as viewed from the front of the car, behind the cobra pipe and the power steering bracket etc - I'll have to remove these to be able to see it but I think it's pretty flush with the head, judging by the half inch or so which is missing from the stud!

Click to expand...

I've been successful with an easy out... make sure you use a brand new cobalt bit that matches the easy out size. (small)
WD40 etc... Make sure to only drill enough to start the easy out. I found that once the stud begins to rotate it does remove easily. I think part of the issue is the heat
generated by an engine with a turbo (more Ox to burn). I do have a spare head for the 2.3.

David M.

nmmiller50_1764 said:

I've been successful with an easy out... make sure you use a brand new cobalt bit that matches the easy out size. (small)
WD40 etc... Make sure to only drill enough to start the easy out. I found that once the stud begins to rotate it does remove easily. I think part of the issue is the heat
generated by an engine with a turbo (more Ox to burn). I do have a spare head for the 2.3.

David M.

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Last one I did, after the usual WD40, I drilled a 4 mm hole with a sleeve, and used an old T20 torque bit to remove the thread. I already had the engine out with a failed welch plug (replace all of them), but it may have worked with the engine in and therefore no need to take the manifold odd - although I am inclined to replace all the studs if one fails.
Good luck

Methuselah said:

Last one I did, after the usual WD40, I drilled a 4 mm hole with a sleeve, and used an old T20 torque bit to remove the thread. I already had the engine out with a failed welch plug (replace all of them), but it may have worked with the engine in and therefore no need to take the manifold odd - although I am inclined to replace all the studs if one fails.
Good luck

Click to expand...

Typo - "odd" = "off"

Thanks everyone, Incidentally if it's any help to anyone, I found the studs all came out quite easily, some just locked to the thread of the nut and others by the double-nut method, but there was no way the bolts on the turbo to manifold were coming out, so I loosened the stay on the turbo and the front pipe bracket, and crowbarred the turbo down so i could clear the bolts and squeeze the manifold out! Sounds easy, doesn't it? I watched a few youtube videos about different methods to remove flush studs and the one which has the highest risk of failure seems to be the easy-out one, so it is "weld a nut on it" for me!

If you have a welder, that is definitely the choice.