How to remove broken stud in aluminum head

[mitsue]

A friend recently brought me a motorcycle that had a exhaust stud broken off in the head. There had been two attempts to drill it out and one had broken off a screw type "easyout". The frame downtube was in the way to get a straight shot at drilling it. Since the head was aluminum and the stud steel, I welded a nut onto the stud. It took a few tries, nut twisting off etc before it sucumbed to my efforts. The heating and cooling from the weld helped break it free. It worked like a charm in my opinion.

Hope this helps someone from pulling a head off or motor out to repair.
Darcy

 

[Rbeckett]

Used that trick a bunch on Cummins heads too. Exhaust studs are another common area for rust and corrosion to take hold like concrete too. I always go back up with gray or copper antisieze when I finally get it out.
Bob

 

[12bolts]

Whilst the anti-seize pastes are great, and I use them a lot myself, you should avoid using copper based compounds on aluminium. Stick to the nickel based (grey) ones instead. Copper is a more noble metal than Ally and can cause severe electrolysis in rapid time under good conditions, (wet areas) but will occur eventually, even under less than ideal conditions.

Cheers Phil