I wanted to replace all the short rocker shaft studs on my Victors with long ones last night. I'd done this on the center pedestals only on another set before and had no problem getting the old Heli-coils out. At midnight I was still struggling to get even ONE out, and was just making a mess of things.

Before I used a pointed scribe or a small screwdriver to pry the top coil out, and then small pliers to pull out the rest. That didn't work for me on the new heads. I tried drilling one out on a spare head... only managed to butcher that one (good thing it's a spare I got relatively cheap).

I tried an easy-out, but think it puts too much pressure around the entire coil and forces it against the wall because it won't turn. Online searches turned up that there are tools that look like an arrow head on a t-handle... same concept as an easy-out, only it won't put pressure on the entire coil. Anyone use something like that successfully?

Whatever I do, it's going to need to wait since I don't see such a tool available locally and I need to finish assembling the engine for its "Date with Destiny" a week from today. Guess I'll be pulling the heads back off to finish the job after the dyno session...