Hey, guys--I know a lot of you have worked on your H3 exhaust manifold, so I could use some advice at this point.

My '07 H3 had 3 manifold bolts sheared off flush with the cylinder head. A fourth broke with hardly any force when trying to remove it. A mechanic friend helped me drill & tap them out. When drilling one out, the small drill bit snapped off in the center of the bolt. He tried to TIG weld a nut onto it, but couldn't sustain a good arc & gave up after dozens of failed attempts. (He did weld a nut on the bolt that I broke, which was protruding half an inch--so I don't think lack of welding skills was the problem.)

After installing studs, now I can't get the manifold to fit over them. I can get it on the back few studs, but then the front ones don't line up, and vice versa. When I lay a straightedge across the mating surface of the manifold, it is close to straight but not quite. However, my understanding is that a small amount of warping is normal.

So, I have 2 questions:

1) Any other ideas for extracting the sheared bolt w/ a drill bit embedded in its core? Or is there any hope of the surrounding studs providing enough clamping power to seal it up with that one missing?

2) A new header isn't really in the budget right now, but I'm worried the stock manifold is too warped to reinstall. Does anyone have suggestions on how to get it to fit?

 

This is now going to be an experience and may result in a lot of cussing.
I've broke off easy outs before and gave up after a long protracted cuss fest.

Good luck.

Chris

 

probably the best solution is to purchase a new manifold or header. If the header is warped, you definately will want to replace