Removing a broken screw

[RangerMan64]

Hi everyone,
I just finished up giving my 88 a tune-up. The owner before me must have snapped one of the screws in the screw holes for attaching the distributor cap. He held on the old cap with what looks like half of a link on a chain. Well my question is how do I get the broken off screw out of the screw hole?
Thanks in advance

 

[kevinsranger]

go to sears, they sell screw extractors, they look like drill bits with a cutter on the front, put one in a drill in reverse and start drilling, it will bore a little hole in the screw till the sides catch and pull it right out.

 

[Big Jim M]

RangerMan since the pressure on a bolt or screw is BETWEEN the screw head and the first screw thread, when one breaks usually the remaining part isn't tight in the hole. A simple tool similiar to a flat screw driver bit can be twisted on the broken part and MOST times the broken part will simply unscrew.
The down side to this is the crud that was in the hole or cross threaded threads that caused the breakage in the first place. In such cases the remaining threads are too tightly inserted to comeout easily. SO to get em out one must purchase a BACKWARDS turning drill bit and then insert the EXTRACTOR which also turns backwards to catch the broken part and turn it out..
Yeah it can be a real pain. Sometimes destroying the threads of the device rendering it useless! Major problem is the screw is usually HARDER metal than the device and the drill bit can wander off the screw and into the device threads..
But try to unscrew it first with a flat bit and see if it comes out.
Big JIm