Bill Ball

I'm replacing leaky cam cover gaskets on a buddy's car. I really hate this job, but things were going well enough until I got to the far rear lower passenger side cover bolt. I noticed washers on a few of the other bolts; evidence that someone had been in here before to try to deal with the leaks. Now I know why the washers were there - they stripped the head on the rear bolt and gave up and fudged teh job by sticking in some washers. My Allen just turns in it.

I've seen suggestions for dealing with stripped Allens, but I'm not to sure if any of them will work as this bolt is pretty inaccessible. I MIGHT be able to drill the head off MAYBE - it's a long reach and no room for a drill, but some kind of long bit or bit extension might work. I suppose I could try to get my Dremel down there to slot it. Damn! And I'm under a time crunch too.

Anyway, PLEASE hit me with some suggestions!

Tony

Id try to slot it with your dremel then use a screw driver bit and a small wrench that will fit the end of the bit.....add some length to the wrench if you need more leverage. I actually have a 90' screw driver, that has come in handy in the past....it came with one of the kids toys a few Christmas's ago. Agreed, those bolts are a PITA when rounded just the slightest...which can happen very easily!

BC

I dremeled a notch in about 12 of them so I could hammer on it to make it turn. It worked okay.

aggravation

Can you grab it perpendicular to its axis with a small pair of needle nose vise grips? Set the clamp to very tight and once it's locked break the bolt free then finish removing it with a regular pair of pliers...tedious but effective...although I can't say I've done it to one of those bolts before, mine were enough of a pain without being stripped!

Rob Edwards

Bill-

If you were here I'd loan you these:



These worked great when I stripped the Hall sensor cover hex bolt recently. The small ones chock up in a 3/8" socket on a 1/4" drive and turn the bolts right out. I imagine that would fit back in there. Does removing the bracket for the engine harness buy you any space (doesn't it HAVE to come off anyway?)

Is this an 87+? Isn't there a supply issue for the 85/86 cover bolts?

Since space is tight, maybe make a big slot with a dremel and then either a right angle screwdriver or a small drag-link socket? (Do they make small drag link sockets?)

linderpat

Rob - what is that set and where can one get it?

Big Dave

If you can't get at it easily, use your shortened allen wrench and secure it into the stripped head with JB Weld. It shouldn't be torqued much, so the JB Weld ought to be enough bite to let it turn.

Bill51sdr

Appears to be Snap-On, they have an online site. Looks like a very useful tool! I'm afraid to hear the price though...

Rob Edwards

The extractor set are Snap-Ons, I got them on an Ebay auction for about $60 last year. No idea what they cost new.

mark kibort

guys, put down the heavy artilery!!

Bill, just a snub nose vice grips. (the small size) . grab it from the side and get a real good clamp on it, and then break it loose. use them like plyers until they are coming out to allow the allen to finish the job. I ONLY use vice grips on that one allen that is pinned against the coolant pipe along the fender well.

Bill Ball

It was remarkably easy with the right tool..hold on..photo-essay coming.

Bill Ball

Thanks for the suggestions!! They got me exactly where I needed to be in short order. On my own I was getting frustrated. No more!

First, there's no room to get a stubby Vice Grip on it at a useful angle. It was a good suggestion for a more accessible bolt.

Rob's glorious-looking Snap-On Extractor Set got me thinking. These are internal extractors and the Allen head small (5mm inside) and may not have enough depth for this type of extractor. No way to drill. Still might work just fine, but no gottsa.

BUT then I remembered I had bought some external bolt/nut removers. They are advertised to grip the most rounded off nut or bolt. Did I have the right size to grip the perfectly round outside of the Allen? Sure did! It was so ridiculously easy to remove the stripped Allen with this extractor, I'd prefer using it to the Allen key on all of the bolts.

Here's the photo essay.

1. Allen is rather inaccessible. The photo makes it appear there is some room down there, but it's not enough to do much.


2. Craftsman partial set of bolt/nut extractors.


3. #7. Use a 3/4" (19mm) wrench/socket to drive it.



4. Just grips the head.


5. Pushed onto stripped Allen. Needs to be seated to get a grip. No room to hammer it and nothing to lever against nearby other than the plastic expansion bottle - not good enough.


6. Got my handy 19mm S-K socket end wrench. Fit it over the extractor. Just enough room for it.


7. How to seat the extractor? Laid the handle down and a few gentle taps on the wrench handle with the side of my 3-lb sledge seated it enough.


9. With almost no force, the Allen came loose.


10. Cosmetic damage of the head.


I would now strongly recommend a set of these in the toolbox when you go to do the cam cover gaskets.

dprantl

I think if I was in that position I would've vice-gripped the crap out of that SOB at a 45 degree angle. It probably wouldn't work though

Dan
'91 928GT S/C

Bill Ball

Dan:

I tried with several small Vice Grip brand ones I have. The angles and space did not allow a good grip. The external extractor was totally effortless and very quick to use.

Bill Ball

I should add that I have a set of SIMILAR rounded nut/bolt extractors that Harbor Freight sells, but they do not have a sharp edge to the internal flutes and the flutes are stright rather than spiral cut, so they will not cut into and grip a completely round surface like these Allen's. I just tried them on another stripped Allen - no-go. The Craftsman extractor did the trick again.