RE: [DML] BROKEN bolts!!!

["Joseph Kuchan" <josephkuchan@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Brian,

My son and I recently did a "while i'm there" project on his car. We ended 
up heli-coiling a lot of different bolt holes and drilling out some broken 
bolts. After 20+ years of being mated, steel bolts and aluminum holes 
sometimes decide to "marry for life"! Removing these bolts can lead to these 
kinds of problems.

The first thing is to be calm and not over-react. Study what you've got 
before you, and resign yourself to taking the time to fix the problem 
without making it worse. The worst thing you can do is to try to fix the 
issue in a hurry because you're in a panic only to find out that you made 
matters worse. There are a lot of different tools and techniques for fixing 
problems like this. That's why you want to size up the situation and decide 
on your approach saving the most drastic measures for last.

One thing that worked for us was to use a combination of lots of soaking in 
PB Blaster, heat on the aluminum part, (working a torch around the outside 
of broken bolt) and a nifty little tool we got at Sears that is kind of a 
female "easy-out". It has a hex-shaft to fit securely into the chuck of a 
reversible drill and internal teeth that grip the remains of the bolt that 
are still protruding from the hole. It doesn't need a lot of bolt to get a 
grip. You should use this in a 1/2" reversible drill and use LOW speed so as 
not to strip the outside of the bolt. What you really want is to apply a lot 
of torque to it, which is why I suggested using a 1/2" drill as opposed to a 
smaller drill. Before doing this, take a deep breath, quiet down your 
emotions, and resign yourself to careful and time consuming work. Don't rush 
this. Use lots of soaking with PB Blaster for a long time before you attempt 
to remove the remains of the broken bolt. Use only a propane torch if you're 
heating an aluminum part as an acetylene torch risks melting or damaging the 
part. We ended up using a small pick to peel the remains of the bolt out of 
the threaded hole.This worked for us on some parts, and when successful, it 
allows you to reuse the original bolt hole.

On a water pump bolt that snapped on my son's car we had nothing left 
sticking out to grip so we drilled it out and chased the threads with a tap. 
You MUST drill straight down the center of the bolt of course! We center 
punched it and then made a small starter dimple with a small bit before 
working our way up to a bit that matched the MINOR diameter of the bolt.

On my son's car one of the four 7 mm holes for the intake manifold bolts was 
stripped. We heli-coiled that hole and "while we were there" we did the 
other three intake holes as well, since a heli-coil repair is stronger than 
the original threaded hole in the aluminum. If you need to helicoil a 7 mm 
hole, you may need to mail-oreder the heli-coil kit as 7 mm is an uncommon 
size. It may not be available locally.

-Joe Kuchan

>From: "ashtonorlan" <ashtonorlan@xxxxxxxxx>
>Reply-To: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>To: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [DML] BROKEN bolts!!!
>Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 05:53:39 -0000
>
>I am in the process of "while im in there" and I have 2 broken bolts
>with about a quarter inch of metal still out. (1) Back left of the
>intake manifold (1 of 4) and (2)the very bottom of the three bolts for
>the water pump, the one at the six o'clock position(NO IDEA!!) ANY,
>and I mean ANY help with this is appreciated.
>
>Brian D
>05905






To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address:
moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx

For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com

To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/