kmascotto

Well the motor is out and I am in the process of removing my cams, to replace a broken chain. Nothing is easy...I striped three cam retaining bolts..
My question, do I have any option other than drilling these puppys out? Any other ways to remove them??

Imo000

Drill the head off and then rest will come out easily. Tilt the engine so the shavings fall out instead of in the engine. Also, cover everything with rags to minimize contamination. If you have any that are untouched, tap them first with a small hammer and the tripple square bit and then try loosening them. The S4s have these idiotic boots that work well during assembly but are a nightmare later on during service. If you can, I would suggest to replace all of them with allan head bots.

SeanR

Drill it out Kent, not much you can do at this point. Cover every MM when you do. I usually have a couple of magnets sitting on the towels I have covering everything else to help catch the drilled shavings.

Also, it helps a bit to have some valve grinding compound on your triple square bit to help grab as you try to remove them.

kmascotto

Thanks Guys ! im going to tackle that tomorrow

kmascotto

Holy crap...those bolts are 6.50 a pop!!

SeanR

Let me know how many you strip, I'll send you some for the price of shipping. Unless you say you stripped them all then I"ll charge ya 1/2 price

Imo000

If you have a bench grinder, scrape up a bit of the grinding dust, mix it with some grease and you made yourself some home made valve grinding compound. Unused this once on a project car when I ran out of compound. Worked like a charm.

kmascotto

Sweet! thank you

I'll see what I can drum up

Rob Edwards

Any reason one couldn't slot them with a dremel and use an impact driver with a bigass slotted bit to back them out? Drilling the head is probably quicker, tho.

Damn XZN bolts....

kmascotto

....that's an idea Rob...tx

SeanR

They are shallow headed bolts, easier just to drill them. I used to have that issue with the most rearward drivers side (in the car) until I cut down a few bits to fit properly. Key is to get an angle so you can give a quick snap to break them loose.

As Stan would say. NOTE: get a properly fitting tool.

Rob Edwards

The first engine I took apart I mangled a bolt or two, so I splurged on one of the Hazet sockets and haven't had any issues just zipping them out with an impact. Have probably taken 6 engines apart by now. Though it occurs to me they're always out of the car....

Kevin in Atlanta

Why not use an easy-out?

kmascotto

Kevin, is that one of those reverse drill bits?

Kevin in Atlanta

Yes - i love them - period. Preferred over drilling any day. Very handy for rounded allen's like those that mount the seats.