Removing broken head studs from block

[nkaminar]

Yesterday I helped someone in our club who had broken off 3 studs in his block. I welded nuts to the studs, some of which were broken off fairly deep in the holes.

I used my wire welder set for 1/4 inch material, the highest setting on my welder. I cleaned the top of the studs by multiple strikes with a punch. It took 2 or 3 tries to get the studs out.

I also removed 3 intact studs using an induction heater.

Heat is what does the trick. Plus some penetrating oil. The welded nuts are not any stronger than the chuck we used to remove the intact studs. The welding heats the stud and the thread.

I kept the induction heater on the intact studs until we saw some steam rising from the blocks. This induction heater only heats to a dull red.

A flat washer will protect the block from damage from the welder. After building up a weld on top of the stud, a nut for a 1/2 bolt was used. Some aluminum and some backer board were used to protect the valves and the car. The engine was in the car.

There were 4 intact studs and one broke, so a welded nut was used on that one. That means there were a total of 4 studs removed with the welded nut trick.

An Easyout would not have worked. I had to use a 2-foot breaker bar to remove the studs. They were really in there tight.