snapped bolts

Hmmmmm

Are they flush or do you have any shaft left for a grip?

Easy out

Perhaps the most clearly mis-named tool in my tool kit. However... if the danged thing snapped and left you nothing to grip (it happens on engine blocks all the time...) they are great: you drill the correct size in the centre of the bolt, then run in an 'easy out' to match (turns left and grips -- trust me!) and out she comes. Good penetrating oil helps...

jamie

where to get them...

Auto parts store. You do drill out the centre of the snapped bolt (if the bolt broke unevenly, you may want to grind it flat, and use a centre punch to get the drill started); there are easy outs for various size bolts, and each has a recommended drill size. Some kits even have drills which are meant to go with them. If you can get the bolt out -- which you probably can -- you shouldn't need a tap, although it wouldn't be a bad idea to get a tap set with taps sized for the bolts and to run them down the threads to clean them up after you get the remains of the bolt out. This help?

I have

brazed a longer bolt to the stub takes 3 hands , but with the heat of brazing they tend to turn out ok . You can still drill out if it doesnt work . All so there are left hand drill bits for drilling out the stub .

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useful tools

Channelock makes a tool called a nutbuster. It looks like regular channelocks but has an angled upper jaw and a convex lower jaw and larger teeth for gripping. becase of the design, you get more of a squeeze on the bolt as you push or pull on it. Sometimes the material is too soft and the teeth will just rip into it. I've also gotten some out with a 6" pipe wrench. I would also recommend running the tap through all of them as someone said above. Everhot replacement coils come with studs and brass nuts so life will be easier if the next guy to do the coil or the gasket is you.

If you don't mind a post from another trade: I fix alot of machinery and have this happen quite often. 1) Use penetrating oil and let it sit for a few minutes. 2) Heat helps loosten stuck bolts before they break off. I'll warm a really stubborn bolt with a torch and then turn it out hot. 3) Easyouts work sometimes but It's often a fight. 4) If you have even half a thread left sticking out, try to thread on a nut, just so its barely hanging and you can weld the nut to the stud inside the nut. This new "head" along with the heat of welding works really nice. 5) Drill out the bolt and tap to a larger size or tap with a helicoil kit and insert the a helicoil so its the same size as before. 6) As a last resort, drill the bolt out just leaving the threads and pick the threads out. It's really hard to drill in the center without doing it on a bench press though.

Broken bolts suck. Good luck.

Extractors

Sears also sells the extractors & easyouts.Easier to get to then a snapon truck. but get only craftsman (warranty). As for replacements for coil studs a good coil supplier should have some in stock . My coil maker has studs that are pipe thread one one end . You use a 1/8" or 1/4" pipe tap on the boiler, a little pipe dope, install stud and no leaks, (taper threads seal tight)

rustbuster

mars sells something called rustbuster hvac supply place that deals with mars stuff usually has it comes in a bottle like the zoom spout oil ones. The stuff is great even better than wd40. As far as easyouts any decent hardware store will have them, I tape the right size drill bit to the easyout so on the rare occasions I need to use one the bit and easyout are togather no trying to read what size bit off the shaft.

Neverseize Testamonial...

In 1994 we were replacing 36" valves on a cooling tower. The original valves where installed in 1953, and had some form of anti-seize on the bolts...didn't look gray but who knows after 41 years in nasty water and the surrounding air?

The bolts (about 1" diameter) were embedded in the concrete wall of the tower, and the nuts turned off them with a 36" pipe wrench and one man with the threads in pristine condition...all 48 of them! The mechanic was amazed.

New valves where installed in no time using a hoist, instead of having to play with the original bolts...after a good layer of anti-seize.

PJO

John Abbott mentioned Kroil, I've heard it's good, but never had the opportunity to try it. The stuff I like is called "PB Blaster". I restore antique gas engines for a hobby, and have removed pistons and bolts that were really stuck. I read somewhere that the 4 ways to remove rusted bolts are chemicals, heat, impact, and torque. #1 I first soak them, #2 then with a light hammer, rap it sharply a few dozen times to break loose the rust. #3 I then apply torque. If it moves at all you've got it, but you must move it back and forth little by little as you feel it "releasing" otherwise it will tear the threads out. If that doesn't work, I heat it with an acetylene torch red hot if possible and repeat step #3. Sometimes it will move back and forth till the red goes out of the iron as it cools, then you must heat it again. #4 a cheater bar can help or hurt your situation. Be careful! Sometimes a pneumatic or electric impact wrench will help by doing #2 and #4 at the same time.
Also you can sometimes use a nut splitter or even just a sharp chisel to "stretch" the nut a little. Just chisel a good gouge into the flat of the nut parallel with the bolt.
If despite your best efforts the threads in a hole get messed up, "heli-coils" are a wonderful way to rethread the hole to standard size. If you can drop your part into a bucket of water with washing soda in it, a small battery charger will remove the rust by ELECTROLYSIS. Kind of like "un-plating" something. This is far more gentle than any of the above, but is rather limited in size. This method can be seen on Harry's Old Engine website.