Broken bolt, sheared extractor, wasn't going to beat me.

[Pete.]

Our lad went to change the top engine mount on his Golf, snapped off one of the bolts. The first I knew about it was when he phoned to say the bolt was snapped and the extractor was snapped off in in and could I do anything? I asked for a photo and when I saw it I knew it was going to be a tough one. It's a M12 x 1.25 stainless bolt screwed into a cast aluminium housing with about 35mm thread engagement. Nightmare combo. At least it was accessible.





I have an old fire blanket that I tore a hole in the middle and put the hole over the part and used the blanket to protect the surroundings. First job was to remove the extractor. Popped a washer over it, gave it a squirt with the mig then put a M12 nut on top and welded that. Wound the extractor straight out.



Next for the bolt. I filled the drilled end up with weld then tried the same trick by welding over a washer then a nut. It wrenched the nut off. Tried again, it pulled the weld out of the hole. Tried several times more, same result. Tried a bigger nut = more heat input, that sheared off. I figured that if I kept trying and trying I'd be pouring more heat into the ally housing and eventually it would let go. Turns out it took 9 attempts



And the result - new bolt screws right in. To say that he was relieved is an understatement, because the next step was to drop the engine, remove the plate and put it in my milling machine.

 

[RWD3M]

Our lad went to change the top engine mount on his Golf, snapped off one of the bolts. The first I knew about it was when he phoned to say the bolt was snapped and the extractor was snapped off in in and could I do anything? I asked for a photo and when I saw it I knew it was going to be a tough one. It's a M12 x 1.25 stainless bolt screwed into a cast aluminium housing with about 35mm thread engagement. Nightmare combo. At least it was accessible.

View attachment 304863

View attachment 304864

I have an old fire blanket that I tore a hole in the middle and put the hole over the part and used the blanket to protect the surroundings. First job was to remove the extractor. Popped a washer over it, gave it a squirt with the mig then put a M12 nut on top and welded that. Wound the extractor straight out.

View attachment 304865

Next for the bolt. I filled the drilled end up with weld then tried the same trick by welding over a washer then a nut. It wrenched the nut off. Tried again, it pulled the weld out of the hole. Tried several times more, same result. Tried a bigger nut = more heat input, that sheared off. I figured that if I kept trying and trying I'd be pouring more heat into the ally housing and eventually it would let go. Turns out it took 9 attempts

View attachment 304866

And the result - new bolt screws right in. To say that he was relieved is an understatement, because the next step was to drop the engine, remove the plate and put it in my milling machine.

View attachment 304867

Good effort Pete!

Son owes you a few

 

[premmington]

You fought that to the "death" and won!

 

[Hopefuldave]

This is why I won't let those easy-snaps - oops, easy-outs, anywhere near me...

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[daedalusminos]

stainless bolt screwed into a cast aluminium housing

When will they learn?

Well done on the extraction though!

 

[pedrobedro]

Why is it stainless ? Ordinary 8.8 bolt would be better.

 

[My Old Landy]

Superb result! Pete 1 Bolt 0

 

[gt6s]

Had to do that before. More than once.

 

[Barking Mat]

So pleasing when they do eventually come out.

Well fought.

 

[Windy Miller]

Nice one Pete! Well done for sticking with it!

 

[frank horton]

every car I bought for myself all those kinda nuts n bolts I took off (one at a time) oiled em and put em back.....
gotta say every nut n bolt on my 99,T4 has had this treatment....front to back.....been mine for about 8 years now......

as an add on.....I had to take the f/tank out of an 89 Datsun/Nissan pick up.....
these Jap cars are notorius for snapping bolts....all but one came out with no bother....a little rusty but nowt.....
underneath no rust ar all.....nice warm dry climate.....
there's a lot of 60's cars still im reg use.....

 

[northwest]

Some days you just have to keep going. Helicoils anyone?

 

[premmington]

How old is the golf?

Because the coolant bottle caught my eye.

If it says "silca" on the bottle - dump the bottle and buy a new expansion bottle (non silca one).

-----------------------------

Yeah someone in the VW factory in Germany thought it was a good idea to - put a sand fitler in the bottom of the coolant bottle - when the filter bursts - the debris fills/blocks the internal heater matrix up and you won't get any heat out of the car.

Changing a heater box on Golf will make your engine mount problem look like a walk in the park.

I have changed all the bottles on my own fleet of VAG cars. Wifeys 2015 Golf - My 2012 Passat estate - plus all our loaner Citgos/VW UPs.

 

[premmington]

Some days you just have to keep going. Helicoils anyone?

I hate helicoils - I will do anything rather than use a helicoil.

Drill the next size up and rethread.

Timesert

Make a threaded insert on a lathe

Fill the hole up with weld or TIG braze and drill/rethread.

 

[ajlelectronics]

Changing a heater box on Golf will make your engine mount problem look like a walk in the park.

Ditto on a Scimitar. We believe that the build starts with the wiper spindles and heater box, then everything is else built around it.

 

[northwest]

Timesert

Would love to.

Have you seen the price of them just now?

Just can't afford them, the job won't stand it. (any job I do).

 

[premmington]

Ditto on a Scimitar. We believe that the build starts with the wiper spindles and heater box, then everything is else built around it.

It is said an early Maestro van with a Perkins engine. A chap in a warehouse coat walked out in the car factory placed a heater box on the floor and the lads built a van around them. These were the very first of the vehicles where it was turning into a nasty job.

I done an early Peugeot cabriolet once and we had to remove the windscreen and rebond it to do the heater box.

Not done a Scimitar.

Done a few Renaults and Fords last year - front seats out - then 20 plus hours labour - dash/crashbar/whole everything out .

Garage near me has just done a Renault grand scenic - for a heater fan - whole everything out - now they have a coolant leak and gotta do it again

 

[premmington]

Would love to.

Have you seen the price of them just now?

Just can't afford them, the job won't stand it. (any job I do).

Would agree - timeserts are expensive - but they are good.

I use them a lot for stripped sparkplug threads.

 

[Dcal]

Our lad went to change the top engine mount on his Golf, snapped off one of the bolts. The first I knew about it was when he phoned to say the bolt was snapped and the extractor was snapped off in in and could I do anything? I asked for a photo and when I saw it I knew it was going to be a tough one. It's a M12 x 1.25 stainless bolt screwed into a cast aluminium housing with about 35mm thread engagement. Nightmare combo. At least it was accessible.

View attachment 304863

View attachment 304864

I have an old fire blanket that I tore a hole in the middle and put the hole over the part and used the blanket to protect the surroundings. First job was to remove the extractor. Popped a washer over it, gave it a squirt with the mig then put a M12 nut on top and welded that. Wound the extractor straight out.

View attachment 304865

Next for the bolt. I filled the drilled end up with weld then tried the same trick by welding over a washer then a nut. It wrenched the nut off. Tried again, it pulled the weld out of the hole. Tried several times more, same result. Tried a bigger nut = more heat input, that sheared off. I figured that if I kept trying and trying I'd be pouring more heat into the ally housing and eventually it would let go. Turns out it took 9 attempts

View attachment 304866

And the result - new bolt screws right in. To say that he was relieved is an understatement, because the next step was to drop the engine, remove the plate and put it in my milling machine.

View attachment 304867

Good save @Pete.
Did the hole keep getting deeper as the number of nuts used went up?
Also did you have to get to the bottom of the easy out pilot hole before it would screw out?

I hope you gave him a clip around the ear for using an easyout and put the rest in the bin.

 

[premmington]

Good save @Pete.
Did the hole keep getting deeper as the number of nuts used went up?
Also did you have to get to the bottom of the easy out pilot hole before it would screw out?

I hope you gave him a clip around the ear for using an easyout and put the rest in the bin.

Only thing I use easyouts for:

Are for stuff that is "moving" - is turning and I need to get hold of it.

Drilled into a broken stud on a mill/drill the other day - lefthand drill bit - stud broke loose with lefthand pressure/heat/friction - tapped an easyout into it and would it out.

They are also good for taking broken bits of plastic tube and broken plastic threads out of other palstic stuff.