pp000830

Some great advice above. Use sharp drill bits, the proper extractor, a little penetrating oil and go slow, your troubles will pass. The worst part is just not knowing if you will be successful. Not to worry as your problem seems to be well in hand.

Andy

Tlaloc75

Thank you. Every bit of confidence boosting helps!

OverBoosted28

Know exactly what that, deep seeded, gut wrenching feeling is when "something" happens. Turbo check valve seeping. No torque whatsoever, slowly tightening to stop leak, and this. Imagine the horror, of picturing a total removal of turbo, to remove it, w/o dropping ANYTHING down into turbo. Small square easy out, barely tapped in, and it came out perfect. Keep us posted, and get good pics of the carnage.

Tlaloc75

Thank you. I'll keep you all updated!

jennifer911

Tlaloc, I think the old adage (“when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging”) surely applies here. Many enthusiasts, as well as professional mechanics, would find themselves in a similar position to your dilemma. They would drag whatever carcass (with a deeply embedded broken bolt shank etc.) to his shop. It wasn’t that they were bad mechanics per-se, they just weren’t expert machinists like my dad. In this case, he would first use a series of left-hand drills with a brass guide to re-center your off-centre hole then ream it to a precision bore. There isn’t just one type of screw extractor, there are dozens of them. Besides your hole being off center, it is most likely lopsided as in not parallel to the threads. Fixing this will give many more options on a repair. (Maybe a Helicoil or machining up a solid threaded insert etc.) Using a crappy auto parts store tapered extractor will not work well under those conditions and may bear the broken shank tighter in the threaded bore causing the extractor to break.

My dad liked to use all the tooling and methods he had acquired over the years and left to his own devices he would not charge anything or just a token payment. Once I got old enough to take over his invoicing and billing, I would charge a fair, but hefty amount, knowing the embarrassed owner would pay anything to get out of this dilemma.

If getting the car to an expert is not feasible, then maybe call in somebody more experienced than you to help.

Tlaloc75

I appreciate this advice, thank you. I feel like I'm getting close to the end of what I'm willing to do on my own. My current plan is to drill through the rest of the way with a 1/4 bit, get some penetrating oil into the threads and see if I can get it to budge a little. I used a guide to start the hole with a 1/8 bit. I know that doesn't guarantee I'm drilling straight on, but it looks pretty good visually.

Maybe I should stop here and get it to a pro... I'll keep thinking on that.

coreseller

My 2 cents....Stop working on the car immediately and walk away, don't touch it before tomorrow, you'll be more calm. +1 on Cobalt drill bit, Much more durable. +1 on drilling all the way through then use PB Blaster and let it soak in overnight. +1 Go Slow!!

I know it's easy for me to say but DON'T FREAK, it will get straightened out one way or another.

Tlaloc75

Not freaking is hard to do, but I know you are right. It'll be fine in the end. Thank you.

coreseller

I am the same way, drink a beer / bourbon, chill out and address it tomorrow with a new perspective. In a week you'll be chuckling at this..........

_snowbird_

that's kinda how I felt when removing my motor mounts. I walked away for a bit, consulted some Rennlist threads, but still couldn't find a solution that would work.

Then later that evening, I received a divine inspiration. 30mins later, my stuck motor mount was off!

I'm a big believer in letting your brain solve problems without actively thinking about them. I'll let you know if it happens for me more than once

MarinS4

Tialoc, first off I will say I am sorry to see this happen to you. It's a bad situation indeed given its location.

With all due respect I have to question your "touch" as a mechanic. I would not be comfortable letting those same hands proceed into the darker waters of the removing such a broken bolt. It will get really ugly if that mounting hole gets stripped out.

Again I mean no disrespect just want to see you avoid more trouble ahead.

Instead of hauling the car off to a shop ask for some help from someone who has dealt with that sort of thing in the past. Find an OG like myself who has LOTS of the experience fighting such a fight. A couple of benjamins should make him happy for his time. Surly it's less than the cost of a tow alone.

Best of luck for a easy solution.

Tlaloc75

Those are hard words to hear, but I understand why you are saying them. I've been beating myself up plenty in the past 24 hours.

Are you offering your services? I'm not sure there is anyone on the board close enough to me geographically to help. Believe me I'll take any help I can get.

MarinS4

Thanks for not taking that the wrong way. I know it's a bitter pill to swallow. I felt it needed to be said to avoid a complete distaster if you charge ahead. You're at a tricky crossroad in my humble opinion. Breaking a drill bit or easy out in the hole is what I fear. If that happens you're really screwed. Best to call in the help now.

coreseller

Post up your general location, you never know. GREAT group here, you may get surprised.

Tlaloc75

Yeah I get that. I'm trying to weigh the odds of success vs. catastrophic failure. So far the drilling has been easy and it hasn't felt like I've gotten close to a bit breaking. I've progressed slowly up in sizes and there hasn't been any binding to speak of. I've been very careful.

Same thing with the easy out. I can't get too much force on it, since my lever arm is very small and the space is constrained. The bolt broke with a long lever arm of 2'+. Now I'm exerting torque with only about 6". So I just can't generate that much force.

I'm going to mess with it a bit more. I think there are some safe things I can do to make progress and see where that takes me...

That said, I feel OK with finishing the rest of the project and then buttoning it up for a shop to take care of the bolt. I talked to my mechanic, walked him through what had happened (and where) and he felt very confident he could make it right.