ok, ill make a long sto0ry short, one of the bolts that holds my thermostat housing on is broke off, the bottom one to be exact, anyway, i drilled it out and tried using an easy out but it broke off inside the bolt, i tried hitting it with a cold chisel to turn it and everything, im out of ideas now, can someone help?


1985 F-150/351Ho/4wd/6inch with 33's
1979 f-250 429/4spd/6inchwith 36 inch buckshot mudders

on a quiet night your can hear a chevy (lol,you can watch a dodge) rusting away

 

You will have to use either a cobal or tungston drill bit to re-drill the bolt hole. It may take a while but it can be done. Then get another easy-out to thread out the entire mess. Good Luck! Jake.

Jakegypsum // Ford fleet, soup to nuts.

 

thanks, where can i look into getting one of these bits?



1985 F-150/351Ho/4wd/6inch with 33's
1979 f-250 429/4spd/6inchwith 36 inch buckshot mudders

on a quiet night your can hear a chevy (lol,you can watch a dodge) rusting away

 

You would need to go to a good automotive parts place. Also, an industrial hardward type of place. You could also try a rental store although they would probably sell the bit to you instead of renting it. Last thought, try a machine shop. If anybody would have one, they would. Good luck.

Jakegypsum // Ford fleet, soup to nuts.

 

I would also recommend using a good cutting oil(A good tool supply or machine shop should have some). The oil will help the drill bit cut into the easy out. If at all possible try to make the top of the broken easy out flat with a dremel tool or something similar. This makes it easier to center the drill, you don't want to snap off an even harder steel drill bit in the same hole.

When drilling, use the oil, drill in just a little bit and clean out the hole and put more oil in and drill some more. A little bit at a time will lessen the chance of breaking the bit.

If you are lucky, the heat from drilling may have helped loosen the stuck bolt. Try to remove the bolt with the new easy out but be careful you don't break that one too. If the bolt won't come out, try some penetrating lubricant, like liquid wrench. Tap the bolt gently with a hammer every once in awhile, supposedly the vibrations help the penetrant work its way in. I usually take my time at this step since you are already screwed anyway and don't want to make it worse by rushing. You might also heat the outside of the housing with a torch, this sometimes helps loosen things up.

It would really make things much easier if you could do this work on a bench. Don't know if that is an option, but every little bit helps when you are in this kind of situation.

When everything is done, you might use a good antisieze compound on the screw next time, especially if the threaded part of the housing is aluminum(I don't know what yours is made of). also wouldn't hurt to clean the threads with a tap just to make sure they are not gunked up.

Jim Henderson

 

I really don't have anything uplifting and inspirational to tell you at this point. I will say from experience that you likely will not be able to drill thru the broken off easy out, unless it is made in Taiwan from recycled beer cans. There are businesses in the larger cities that specialize in removal of broken taps and drill bits using ultrasonic soundwaves or something like that. The location doesn't help matters any either. You may ultimately have to remove the intake and take it to a machine shop.

DannyP
89 F-150 4x4 former EFI I-6 now carbed 351W, Edelbrock heads,cam,intake,carb.
MSD 6A, ZF, Sterling 10.25 with 3.55L's.

 

Yea Danny P is right easy outs are atleast 50 rockwell and that is very hard hard metal ita even harder in the location your drilling it in, i dont think any drill bit is going to drill that out it will just burn up the drill bit and make it harder, Take the intake off, you may be able to shatter the easy out with a center punch, also doubtfull, Take it off and try to drill it or whatever if you cant get it out, probably would be cheaper to but a boneyard intake then to have it removed and drilled and tapped at a machine shop

 

Depending on how much of the bolt is showing, We've been able to use a Dremel, flatten two opposite sides, and use a good pair of vice-grips to remove the bolt.

We've also heated the head (just warm, not hot) with a butane torch and cooled the bolt with compressed liquid CO2 (buy a little can of that compressed air, turn it upside down, spray, and you'll see what I mean) which helped us out. The heat expands the head, while the cold shrinks the bolt.

Just some ideas....

 

As I was reading your stupid mistake. At the bottom an oh so such state ment that may have resualted to meaning that "Chevys are cool and Dodges suck?" If so, please come back here when you lose your first set of teeth and actually know a bit about trucks. You don't even want to get me started on my list of facts between trucks. Why they are good and why they are not! Just so happends that chevy is turning jap. And I beleave so that the dictonary of cars says that jap = crap. Now lets not talk ##### about any other trucks in such bad ways if they are great trucks. Don't try to tell me your oponions you will hate my facts.

 

>You don't even want to get me started on my list
>of facts between trucks.

Are we talking actual cold, hard independantly researched facts or your opinion stuck to a couple of numbers you got somewhere?

>Just so happends that chevy is turning jap. And I beleave so
>that the dictonary of cars says that jap = crap.
>Now lets not talk ##### about any other trucks in
>such bad ways if they are great trucks. Don't try
>to tell me your oponions you will hate my facts.

Last I checked, most countries still allow people to have their own "oponions" AND express them ... they don't have to agree with you. Besides, before you tell others not to talk ##### about any other trucks, maybe you should remember to not do so yourself with the "chevy=jap, jap=crap :: chevy=crap" diagnosis. (and personally I've never seen this dictionary you refer to, but if you can point us 'unenlightened folk' to a copy it would be appreciated.) Chevy isn't the only 'domestic automaker' turning to Japanese parts. Check out the Yamaha engine Ford used in the Taurus SHO's.

And my last little point, before you talk about someone's "stupid mistake" - which if it wants to happen can't really be prevented ... bolts DO snap and tools DO break - maybe find a spell checker or dictionary (of the English language, not cars) so you look a little more intelligent belittling someone. This board is here to help people ... if you don't have something constructive to add, don't say anything or take it private. Contrary to your personal belief, "iknowitall" as a screenname REALLY doesn't apply to you.

To everyone else ... sorry for using this space like this, but seeing small-minded people try to show off their ignorance is one of my pet peeves.

Chris in Canada
74 Gran Torino Brougham ... the toy ... older and wiser.
84 F150 2WD ... the truck ... wife says, "never trust a teenager."

 

Relax dudes, even experts bust tools. That is why there are so many tool makers who make tools to get you out of stupid fixes.

A friend on another list is a professional machinist with years of experience working with metal and hand tools. He did exactly what happened to our friend here. He had a bolt that was broken off on his engine, no fault of his, it was just broken. He did the usual easy out routine and yep, snapped the easy out in the hole. That is where I got most of the directions to get out of this fix that I posted here. He had to make use of his machineshop business to get the easy out and bolt out of the hole.

So even the best of us break stuff.

If you don't break things, you just aren't trying hard enough ;^)

Jim Henderson

 

Who exactly was that directed at IKNOWITALL ? I didnt see anyone saying anything about a chevy or dodge here ???????? Did I miss something ? And what exactly is your age, Judging by your name about 14 or 15 give ot take a year LoL, 351ho hows that going for you over there ?

 

You didnt say if you have any bolt sticking up or not.no matter but if you set a nut on the bolt then weld inside the nut to the bolt it should back right out.If it dont heat and cool nut. might help, if it dont work ,sucks to be you!lol this trick has worked for me. OH can you weld? good luck Macks

 

Just my two cents for what it's worth. I've been through this broken bolt, galled bolt, rusted bolt, whatever, a few times and find it's easiest to let the machine shop deal with it. Not only will they get the bolt right out, they'll repair the threads to like-new condition in a jiffy.

 

If it is on cast iron, the bolt will be steel of course so you can spot weld lightly to the bolt that is inside building a bead out, visegrip that and slowly wiggle back and forth. This has worked a million times on old flat head motors.

Good luck dusty