fordguy17

Some of you might remember my post about my car pinging. well, i have finally traced down the problem to an exhaust leak. i was checking my header bolts and i noticed that two of the bolts were missing. both were in the very back. so i bought some new bolts and tried to thread them in, but it appears the previous owner stripped the holes when he installed my shorty headers.[:@] so what do i do now? i think there is something called liquid metal? could i use that? or should i tap them out? can i do this with the heads on the car?

also i heard that running with an exhaust leak can blow head gaskets and mess up other stuff. is this true?

thanks all!

Chris C

I dont know what liquid metal is but i would tap them out myself. Better to do it right the first time. And yes I would think you would have better luck with the head off the car.

86gt5.0HO

You could use heli-coils (threars that thread in) that way you don't need to use a bigger sized bolt.

86HOGT

Yeah there's a product called metal to metal but I'd throw in a heli-coil first since it would probably do better with the heat.

Chris C

Heli-coil is the best bet if its stripped bad. You might get lucky and be able to just tap it with the same size and clean up the threads enough to get them to hold well. I would try that first. I had to heli-coil a spark plug and they work well but its kinda a PITA.

88GT40

are you sure that the person didn't snap the heads off the old bolts leaving whats left to block the threads of the new bolts from threading and giving them no place to go. striping the holes is much more unlikely than busting them off do to rust etc. mine threaded easily I cant see how it would even happen theat they would screw up the threads like that unless the headers had warped and they weren't smart enought o use a pry bar to get the holes to corectly align.

GT350Stang

if i were you i would take off the heads and send them to a machine shop and have them re-thread the holes so that this problem will never happen again. it may cost extra money but it will alot better in the long run.

fordguy17

ok. thanks for all the suggestions. i will pull of the headers this weekend and check if the bolt is snapped off in the head. if it is what do i do? drill it out?

Djs94stang

If you can get at it. Worst case you may need to remove the head to get it out.

fordguy17

man that sucks. this would be a good excuse to get some nice heads, but they are so expensive. plus i still have the stock intake, tb etc.