I received the 3/8" Motordyne plenum today, and of course, could not wait for the weekend to put it in.

The install went damn well and was pretty much finished after about 1 hour and 45 minutes until the final screw (back right) on the engine cover. Being almost completely giddy, awaiting my first drive with the new plenum, I snapped the top of this screw.

Now, before anyone starts, I am an IDIOT, no need to rub it in. The screw felt tight going in, I DEFINITELY should have stopped and tried to ensure a proper fit but the damage is done.

So my question is: What would be the best way to correct this situation?

I have not taken the cover off the engine since I broke the screw. Like I said I was too excited to get into my car . . . but I am pretty sure the screw will be exposed from the top of the plenum and may be able to be removed with a pair of vice-grips (man that sounds brutal ) or if it is not exposed above the plenum maybe I could use a "screw removal" bit and power driver to remove the bolt?

The obvious is that the screw does not serve as a vital part of the functionality of the vehicle but I know it is there and I would like to fix it.

If I get the screw out should I attempt to re-tap the hole?

I will say that i would definitely be better with two people, especially when putting the plenum top back on.

Sooo . . . getting to the spacer and the first drive. I am sure I feel a power gain, mostly through the mid range and above. The next few days I will have more to say . . . of course I have rambled on long enough here, maybe my comments won't be welcome . . .

BTW . . . this was also posted on another forum.

 

Could be a tough one, but do-able
They usually break pretty flush unless you get lucky.

Otherwise it's easy-out city....;
which can be tough with small sizes.

The other alternative is to drill it right out.
Start small,tThen use an oversize drill bit & retap to the new larger size.

good luck with it...
With a little patience it should be OK

 

Grant ..congrats with the new plenum spacer, but bummer with the broken screw.
You probably won't have a problem getting the old screw out, especially if enough is sticking out to get a grip with vice grips (it helps to soak with penetrating oil) If it won't come out that way ,you might have to grind the top of the broken stud flat, then center punch it in the center and drill down the center to receive the proper size easy out. Then remove it with the easy out and run the proper size tap into the threaded hole to clean it up. The big thing is take your time it can be fixed. That happened to me once when I was installing headers on a Mopar 340 and I busted an exhaust stud, it was a bit-h drilling out that stud but I got it.
If it does not appear like it will cause an intake leak you may be able to leave it for a while till you figure it out.
Good Luck

 

Thanks for the comments, all are welcome and appreciated . . . dumb luck and impatience . . .

 

Ever since a very expensive DIY plumbing episode, I've learned to NEVER overtighten anything.

 

Yeah.. never overtighten.. i learned that from Balzz... he has a Torque wrench which is very useful tool. G'luck and try to remove the broken screw carefully.

 

Actually there was no overtightening . . . not that this changes the situation but I figure that the bolt was not threaded properly. The bolt was no where close to completely screwed down. I should have stopped, the bolt was obviously not aligned properly because it was a tight fit . . . alas I will check it out tomorrow and see what I can see . . .

 

BTW, don't forget to tighten up the 6 bolts on the plenum a little. The gaskets compress over a week or so.

 

I too learned the overtightening lesson the hard way when putting a new pipe on a motocross. Did exactly the same thing. Since then I use the small ratchet (1/4 drive), particularly when working with aluminum.

 

Yeah, it sounds like you cross-threaded it! Very easy to do in aluminum. If it feels tight in the first few turns, stop, and back it out (next time, but unfortunately it doesn't hlp you now ). The threads may need to be re-tapped to clean them out before trying again.

To prevent this in the future, it's always a good idea to turn the bolt in reverse and feel for the 'click' that says the threads match up. Then turn to thread the bolt down as usual. I do this with all bolts going into aluminum holes now that I learned this the hard way.

 

Shoot feels like Deja Vu, I just put spacer in and nearly did the same thing on the top left cover screw. However, I didn't break it just cross threaded a couple turns. I pulled out and got it back in but still think there might be bad thread or two.

I think the reason this happened it that plenum is now touching the cover in two spots at the lower end near the oil cap. When you line up the two lower studs I found the top two screws needed extra figgeting to find their holes. I took off the cover and unscrewed the two lower studs a few turns, to give me some height I added 3 washers and now everything seems to be ok. I intend to see if I can find longer studs to make things right but for now I am clearing.

 

Damn, I could have used that info!!

 

Now that the installs are done how are the G's running with the new gear?
I'm thinking about this mod. Did you guys get in on a group buy?

 

ia m thinking about it too, ppl said is the best bang for the buck
where can i get it installed?

 

Are you guys comfortable with those little spacers that are stuck in place while it's getting bolted up?

I'm a little uneasy about potential loose parts in there.
I understand the bolts pass through OK when bolted up.
But, what if you ever had to take it apart again???