Stuck piece of old head bolt
 

I was chasing my head bolt threads on my 454 blocks and ran into a problem. On one thread their is a piece of old head bolt all the way toward the bottom of the thread. It seem to be a little piece on one side of the thread. Any suggestions on how to get this out or is it far enough down that it won't matter? Thanks

if its in the water jacket you may be able to turn it until it falls into the water jacket. ( i would not recomend this unless you remove a freeze out plug to retrieve the old piece of bolt.
possibly you can use a right angle pick and a thin flex magnet to dis lodge it. or use a left hand drill bit and attempt to unscrew it all the way out.
i would think it may affect your torqueing procedure possibly.

good luck

Yes, Its in the water jacket all the way toward the bottom. I would like to dislodge it and have it fall into the water jacket system. I need methods to dislodge it. I could use a drill but that may hurt the threads. I also like the pic idea but I don't think it will work. Any other suggestions?

maybe use a small dremel tool with a small carbide bit, grind up to the edge of the threads then use tap, use plenty of masking take to keep metal out of engine

Yes, that is what I was thinking. When you say use masking tape to keep material out of the engine your refering to cover cylinders and pistons? correct Is their anything wrong with small pieces falling into the water jackets?

I would drill it and use an extractor. If the drill turns the bolt until it falls, then oh well. It's not hard to do without damaging anything, it just takes patience, good bits and a steady hand. If it makes you that uncomfortable, you could take a bolt that threads in properly and drill it in a press to use as a guide when you're running the bit into the broken bolt. That would definitely keep you from damaging threads.

Rene

I like your idea, but what is an extractor?

An extractor is also refered to as an ez-out. It's a tapered bit with a spiral flute that tightens in the hole you drilled when you turn it it the loosening direction. Sears also has some that are square instead of round. Either style should work fine. The toughest part is not breaking the bit off in the hole. You need to use the largest size that you can fit in the threaded hole to minimize the possibility of breaking it off in the hole.

Rene

I can't use an eazy out because the little piece stuck is not a whole peice that can be drilled. It is like a quarter of a whole stuck to the side wall of the threads.

I understand. I would then try to knock it into the block with a drift or drill it until there was little enough left to get with the tap.

Rene