Newbie advice please - welder needed for single job

[Jembo28]

Hello all.
Hopefully this is a variation on what are probably lots of newbie questions...

I have a job that needs doing on my car which I've been quoted lots and lots for so want to try and tackle myself. Basically it has an oil leak which is caused by a failed gasket, but the 11 (each side) bolts that hold the plastic cover in place have been there so long that they are impossible to move without rounding (internal hex key type bolts - can't even really get the key in there properly).

I've tried every other method known to man to remove them but it seems last resort is to weld a new nut to each bolt head so I can get decent purchase and get them all off and replace.

And there's the catch - I've never welded and don't have a welder.

Machine Mart have this for £70 - https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-mma120-105-amp-arcmma-inverter-welder/ - is this the right sort of welder (I really don't know the difference between MIG/TIG/ARC welding) and will it do the job? I'm fairly handy, so very willing to give things a go. I may end up doing other welding stuff, but let's just ignore that potential for the moment and focus on what's needed here.

Thanks all in advance for your help.

 

[steveo3002]

cant you smash the cover and use vice grips or the like , sounds like its going to get destroyed anyway

or hammer a torx bit into the bold heads

 

[Jembo28]

I was certainly hoping to reuse the cover as it's quite an expensive part.

A couple of the 11 bolts are quite hard to get to so no chance of hammering the bit in sadly.

 

[steveo3002]

how about a picture of the cover /engine in question

theres some fierce heat involved so i would expect it to get damaged

 

[Jembo28]

If it helps, here's a picture I found online of the cover in question - clearly the bolts in this picture have just been replaced!!! The tough ones to get to are behind that orange rubber hose (which comes off easily of course), but the shiny metal piece below the cover is very difficult to remove and has a "male" tube coming up that the orange hose goes onto and this interferes with the access to bolt number 11.

 

[Jembo28]

Could you put a small sheet of metal with the right size hole over the bolt to shield the plastic cover?

 

[steveo3002]

have you tried bolt extractors that grip on the outside?

 

[Jembo28]

Yes - three different sets of them!!!

 

[julianf]

Its got to be cheaper to pay someone to do a single small job like that than to buy a whole welder?

Can you hire migs? I suspect only huge ones...

 

[RWD3M]

TBH, If you weld a nut onto anyone of those fasteners there will be more than enough heat transfer through the bolt head to muller that plastic cover.

Edit: By the way, welcome to the Forum!

 

[GaryS65]

Stairway to misery. Unless the bolts are M10 plus forget using MIG. Let alone gasless mig or stick.

You'll want a TIG, + gas + welding helmet.

How much has the professional quoted? If the cover is plastic chances are it will still need replacement

 

[Jembo28]

It's going to be over £1000 to get someone to do it. If the covers get mullered then so be it. I can get replacements for about £150 each so that's not the end of the world.

The bolts are only M6 I believe.

 

[Dragnet]

It looks as though they could be going into an alloy, in which case the difficulty in removal may be down to corrosion at the interstice between the dissimilar metals. I fear that even if you were able to weld something on to improve purchase without melting the plastic cover, you'd end up just twisting the heads of the screws off. That would leave you in possibly a worse situation. I fear you are going to have to destroy the plastic cover to get these out whatever way you do it. As a newbie welder, it would be a horrid job to try to learn on, and a good way to feel really bad about yourself as you end up spending time and money on the welder, the consumables and then the plastic cover and professional as well.

When you put the new cover and screws back in, use some kind of assembly grease to try to prevent them getting so stuck if you have to remove it again. There are so many frustrating jobs like this!

 

[Jembo28]

Bugger - you could be right. Maybe I'm being over-optimistic with my skills here. Shame as I love the feeling of "beating the system" by doing something myself that I was going to be charged a fortune for. Looks like maybe the system wins here and would possibly "double win" me if I make a mess of it...

 

[BrokenBiker]

personally, as someone who has more tools than i can account for, 3 welding processes, blowtorches of all sizes and the ability to make virtaully any tool i want...i would just pay someone to do that...its their liability if they break it and the odds are they have quoted you so highly becasue they plan on just ripping that plastic off and replacing it for new anyway

 

[GaryS65]

It's going to be over £1000 to get someone to do it. If the covers get mullered then so be it. I can get replacements for about £150 each so that's not the end of the world.

The bolts are only M6 I believe.

Smash the cover off to expose the bolts. Use a map gas torch on the bolts and wind out with mole grips.

Cheapest way.

 

[GaryS65]

What's the vehicle?

 

[Jembo28]

It's an old very high mileage (220,000 miles) 911, hence the oil leaks. Use it all the time, hence the mileage and I'm not your typical rich porsche owner, hence the diy approach!

 

[steveo3002]

nothing on owners clubs how others have dealt with it?

 

[Jembo28]

nothing on owners clubs how others have dealt with it?

All the methods on there have been tried - hazards of owning such a high mileage example...