Stuck in the Head

It's been a very frustrating day.

As you may recall, my current car project is replacing the head gaskets on my '98 Subaru Legacy Outback. For the most part, the project has been quite fun.  Challenging, but mostly fun.  That is to say, several difficulties have arisen, but none have been insurmountable, the type of crises for which it would be necessary for me to cry 'Uncle!' and call in a real mechanic to fix what I had messed up.

A few broken bolts here and there, mostly due to stubborn rust and worn-out edges, but nothing that would endanger the successful outcome of the project.

And then I got to the part where the passenger side valve covers were off, and the camshafts were removed, and it was time to loosen up the head bolts so I could take the head off and inspect the gasket.

Simple, right?

Well ... did you know that the head bolts for the EJ25 engine are 12-point instead of 6-point?  Do you know what that even means?

In layman's terms, it means "more opportunity to strip the bolt heads so that they cannot be removed".  And I'm proud to say that I totally realized that opportunity.

Four of the six head bolts came loose with only a ridiculous amount of leverage applied against the 3/8"-drive 14 millimeter socket (with a 24-inch breaker bar extension).

Passenger Side Cylinder Head showing 'Good' versus 'Bad' Bolts

The other two bolts absolutely refused to loosen up, no matter how much I threatened them with physical violence.  In fact, they were so tight that the bolt heads shredded.  Or stripped, depending on the way you want to describe it.  I was attempting to turn the heads, and the socket gave a loud screeeeek! and then it felt loose.  But the bolt was not turning.  Curious, I stopped applying leverage, pulled the socket off and looked at it.  The inside of the socket appeared to be stripped.  But wait!  I took the socket and tapped it on the workbench, and little teeny bits of metal came out.  I looked back into the socket, and it appeared undamaged.  And then I realized that the little bits of metal were not from the socket, but from the bolt head!

Rats.

Now what?

I spent the rest of the day trying to find something to loosen them.  Tried a 14 mm deep socket, but that didn't work.  Tried several auto parts stores, but most of them didn't have bolt removal kits.  Looked up "bolt removal" online.  Saw several sites where it was mentioned that the best method for stripped-bolt removal required the use of a welder.  Which I don't have.  Nor can I afford at this time.  So I kept looking.

{Apparently, there are two methods here: one involves heating up the bolt so that it expands inside the shaft and 'cracks' the rust which is holding it fast; the other involves welding a nut on top of the bolt and turning it with the socket, in the hopes that the weld is stronger than the rusted threads.  The risk with the first method, especially for head bolts, is that the aluminum head heats up before the bottom of the bolt which is stuck in the engine block; the risk with the second method is that the weld will not be strong enough.}

It turns out that Craftsman (Sears) has this "Bolt-Out" kit, which operates on the principle of tapping a socket down on top of the bolt head so that it becomes 'one' with the bolt, so I went round to Sears down at the mall and bought one.  Haven't had time to try it out yet.

Good Bolt Head

Bad Bolt Head

{For your edification, I have included a couple of pictures to demonstrate the difference between a 'good' (unstripped) bolt head and a 'bad' (stripped) bolt head.  Can you spot the difference?  It's kind of hard to tell at a glance, but it's easy if you have a 12-point 14 millimeter socket in your hand.  The good bolt head turns with just a little bit of effort, whereas the bad one refuses to budge, and laughs maliciously at your efforts.}

To add misery to misfortune, I've been battling this horrendous headache all day long.  Took three doses of migraine meds, but to no avail.  Had this headache that just wouldn't go away all day.