SO today me and my buddy decided to install my z-tube. everything went smoothly up until we tried to put everything back together (cover only). Somehow we managed to break 2 bolts clean off with the other half still inside. How did we install the z-tube flawlessly... but end up messing up the easiest part of the DIY. Now i've got 2 broken bolts inside my engine.

 

which bolt did you break exactly??? cause when i installed my z-tube it was pretty straight forward

 

It's SO straight forward, I don't know what happened. The top 2 bolts just decided to snap CLEAN off. Anyone know how the hell am I going to get that out?

 

What bolts????
..the cover bolts that go into the plenum?

There are ways to remove them.

 

Yep the cover bolts that go into the plenum. They both snapped clean off. Pliers can't get to them anymore, ideas?

 

Drill & easy out is the normal method.

These may be too small for that.

The other method is drill out & re-tap new threads.
You will need a bottoming tap, since you don't want to go all the way through.

..or just run w/o the cover & refinish the plenum.
Paint or polish.

 

the finished cover looked pretty nice. if i can't get it out, i'll finish the cover. i can't believe i managed to bust the bolts... too much muscle?

 

Looks nice, Ian. Your old G? What kinda paint?

 

I dont do any work on the plenum or anything touching it with out my trusty inch lb torque wrench - been there, done that.. I LOL'd @ too much muscle.. Those are known to break if you dont torque them right..The VQ is "sensitive" (hehe)

 

Easy outs like Ian said... work like a charm!!!!

Invest in a torque wrench... all specs are available to dl in the technical section too !

 

^^^when your playing with 80inch lbs - Thats NOTHING at all..my ft lb torque wrench only went down to 10 so I couldnt use it..Had to get a whole new one to do inch lbs.. best 40 bucks I ever spent

 

This thread reminds me of the 'spacer install' thread a couple months back...

 

Yeah, I should have thought about the torque specs and what not before I started... need to lay off the roids.

 

with nuts that aren't essential to holding the engine together I go hand tight plus 1-2 turns with a ratchet to snug it up.

 

LOl yeah lesson learnt. I salvaged 1 of the 2. I guess it's better than nothing.