aminus21

iTrader: (14)

Ok, so I remove everything, and find that I have one broken stud in the front, and two in the back. Since I'm doing this on my 89 SE 5spd, I just take out the radiator for more clearance since its only two coolant hoses, and no stupid ATF hoses. The one stud in the front, is very easy. I was directly in front of it so drilling was a charm, and I it came out with ease.

Now for the back. A big pain. I removed the motor mounts, and crossmember and lowered the engine a bit. (just like writeups say) Since I dont have a roller thingy to go under the car and raise my head, I use a 3-4 2x8s as a pillow, and lower the engine a bit, to get better access to the rear studs. One of the broken studs is on the #3 cylinder, and the other on the #5 cylinder. Now I start to drill. I am at a really bad angle, and pieces of metal are flying everywhere. I try my best to drill straight, so I dont drill into the threads of the head. One of the broken studs gives me a big headache, as the screw extractor wont "catch" it.
Now the problem:
I finally get that broken stud out, and when I looked at the broken piece, I realized that I drilled through the entire stud with one of the smaller drill bits, perhaps the 1/8 inch bit. I try to feel inside the hole, with a small bit, and there doesnt seem to be any indention in that hole compared to the other ones. I really hope I didnt drill into the head. A lesson to be learned, "If you get frustrated, take a break, eat some food, take a nap, and dont work on your MAX till the next day"
Is there anything I can do now, other than hope I didnt drill into the head? How thick are the part of the heads where the studs go in?? I hope atleast 1/6 inch.

I havent put everything back together yet, I'll probably get back to working on the car this weekend.

Wiking

Best tip so far in stud drillin... Most likely if u did hit head and the threads with small bit, it did not go all the way down. The new stud threads are quite long and go deep, losing some threads does not matter. Use the threading tool to clear before installing new.

Dunno if it works here, but taking pics with a flash, mirror, sometimes brings the facts in view. Theres still the danger that the only fact will be dirty camera.

aminus21

iTrader: (14)

I didnt drill into the threads. The hole that I made through the broken stud piece was perfectly straight, its just that I drilled completely through the broken stud. (If I can look through the broken stud, I can see straight through it, like a telescope....

Wiking

My noneducated guess is that all is well. Just extract the stud out; squirt in first some WD40.

Tarzan

Even if you drilled into the head and no coolant or oil is coming out, you should be fine. I know that my grandfother had a cracked cylinder block and repaired it with epoxy glue mixed with cement. You can try that if you are afraid that internal pressure may eventually buldge aluminum inside the hole and gases, oil or coolant may start getting out, but that I guess is very unrealistic.

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

What Tarzan said.. sorta..

basically, don't worry about it..

if you didn't see oil or coolant dripping out of the hole, you should be fine. there's quite a bit of meat around the stud holes for strength, so as long as you didn't go TOO far into the head, you should be fine.