Broken header bolt

[brewerbry]

So the saga continues...there was enough bolt sticking out originally to put a nut on, mig weld and back off. Not now! With all of the heating, drilling for an easy out, broken easy out in the bolt, more cutting, drilling, I am left with what is now a stripped hole in the head. So now to install a helicoil. I know about being careful with the depth and being extremely precise with the drill so the bit does not wobble and make too large of a hole. I have ready the thread mentioned about installing a heli coil. Any other tips?

Strangely, the heli coil thing does not really seem so scary after taking a torch to the car, cutting the bolt after the easy out broke, and then using a tap to slowly nibble away the last remaining bits of the bolt.

The bolt was on the row / side that is closest to the block.

The header bolt is really not a huge deal, the car drives fine, has a slight exhaust leak that would only be noticeable to a trained professional or a Boxster nut, and is a simple annoyance that bothers my anal-rentetive side enough that I will probably repair it.

What an adventure! On a good note, my engine cutting out issue turned out to be a simple MAF cleaning and reset of the ECU.