Re: I broke a head bolt,! What should I do?

Posted by DJ.Voyce on September 11, 1997 at 13:50:14

In Reply to: I broke a head bolt,! What should I do?
posted by Dean Travis on September 11, 1997 at 09:05:29

: Help,

: I broke a head bolt off. It broke even with the block. What should I do?

: Help!

: Dean Travis

G'Day Dean,
Welcome to the world of the motor-mechanic!. Depending on how handy you are with your hands here's my advice. The easiest way to sort this problem if you've the experience is to drill down the "exact" centre of the stud to tap size chip the top of the broken stud out & re-tap the threads, the only minus being not picking up the thread start in the block correctly & tapping a thread within a thread which will become a weak point. Obviously the above is not true or I wouldn't be here so here's my advice in lay-terms. First piece of IMPORTANT ADVICE "DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES USE THE CONVENIENCE STORE TYPE EASI-OUT", this is the "tapered tap looking type extractor" with a left hand thread. It will cause you untold heartache if broken off in the block & tends to swell the top of the broken bolt/stud in the hole.
Down to fixing the toys. Firstly fortify yourself with a large amount of your favourite beverage & lots of patience. If the stud has sheared off more or less flat you're in luck. First take a pin punch of about 3/8" dia & give the stud a few goood sharp taps (this may need to repeated at different intervals) then centre punch it "LIGHTLY" & check you've got the mark in the centre of the stud. It may be necessary to have a couple of goes at this procedure until youre happy it's as close to the centre as can be. The other trick is to draw a 7/16"dia. circle on a piece of stiff paper with a pair of dividers, cut it out & line it up over the stud with the point of the centre punch in the hole & mark it that way. Take a small drill 1/8" is O.K. & drill a "STRAIGHT" pilot hole down the centre of the stud, a magnetic base drill is ideal for this if it's possible to hire one nearby, otherwise have a couple of helpers checking from different angles to keep you vertical to the block face. You'll feel as soon as you've gone through the stud, whether it's into the water jacket or a blind hole (nows the time that a little/lot of your favourite rust release agent won't go amiss & a few more taps with the pin punch). If you know ANYBODY that owns a "RIGID" type extractor set, be it someone you don't really know, like, trust, or even hate, now's the time to eat humble pie if there's any chance whatsover of borrowing it. The set consists of a number of different sizes of extremely strong fluted shafts, each with a matched pilot drill & hexagon driver. The shaft is driven into the corresponding size pilot hole & the driver then slid down the shaft to the top of the stud & a wrench then used to remove the stud. If you can't find one of these sets then the next best option is to take a 5/16" allen key & cut/grind the bend off, then grind the end square with the shank so that the corners of the hex are sharp. Drill the pilot hole out to 9/32" & knock the piece of allen key into the hole, if it seems a bit too tight then go up by 1/64" on drill size & try again. Once the shank is in slide a ring spanner down it & tap lightly to remove the stud. If it moves at all you're in luck, but may have to tap it back & forth a number of times & use a little more rust ease (& a lot more patience) before it's possible to unscrew the broken piece completely. A little heat may also help if it's really obstinate.
The last option which isn't half as much fun & nowhere near as self satisfying is to tow the love of you life to yourfavourite auto-engineering shop & have them do the job.
Regardz
DJ.




Previous PageE-Mail Comment to WebmasterPost New MessagePrint MessageClose Window

© 1996-2010, Ahooga.Com

Anti Spam