busted off bolt in engine block

The crystalline structure of cast iron does not allow the exothermic cutting action of the O-A torch to fire up. You can still melt the iron, it just doesn't ignite like steel does. So you aim the torch at the steel piece, hit the O2, the stel goes up in flames but the iron doesn't. That's the therory, it works faily well in practice. The sharp edges on the female cast iron threads get a little melted but a quick clean up with a tap should do it.

The biggest problem is knowing when to stop. If you go to long you bugger up the threads. Not enough leaves all sorts of half melted steel in the hole, too much to use a tap on, not enough to restart the flame.

The same th> "V8TR4" >planned. Since only the very tip does any cutting it won't eat up the

A carbide "christmas tree" burr in a pneumatic diegrinder will chew out broken drillbits and even broken EZOuts. I've done it several times, worked every time.

Then I threw away the EZ outs.

Roy Thank you so much. I'll have to try this out on a piece of cast iron next time I have access to some.

Lane

So, I'm wondering if the bolt has yet been removed. And by what method if not still in the block. Or did I miss the results?

mj

I had the same problem with that engine in a S10 Blazer. Just clamp a nut over the stud hole and weld the bolt to it using a cellulose flux rod (stick the rod in the hole and weld up to the nut). Then turn it out. Works fine.

Gary

I'm the original poster. My friend took a carbide burr in a right angle die grinder and got most of the bolt out and was able to pick out the rest. Took him about 2 days off and on. It's been cold and rainy up here, pretty miserable weather for working on a car if you don't have a dry garage which he doesn't.

Grant Erw> So, I'm wondering if the bolt has yet been removed. And by what method if not

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 13:12:16 -0500, Gary Coffman wrote something ......and in reply I say!:

It doesn't _always_ work fine. I tried this, as posted some time ago. The bolt is in there well enough to simply tear the weld apart. I tried again and actually caused a dimple in the top pf the bolt, so the weld was OK. That bolt is in there well enough to break the original bolt. The welding heat may help free it up. It did not work for me.

Sounds like the head should come out of the vehicle though.

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Imagine a _world_ where Nature's lights are obscured by man's. There would be nowhere to go. Or wait a while. Then you won't have to imagine.

Glad to hear you got it out. Send some of the rain south if you want.

mj

It can take as many as 6 tries or more for it to come out but it usually will. Don't give up before at least 4 tries at anyrate. Repeated application tends to loosen the bolt a little each time. Sometimes it helps to weld the nut on hot. Then use a torch to apply heat to the nut for a while so that some of the heat makes it down the bolt. Lots of the little tricks to this but the welding trick works at least 80% of the time.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

Southern California will take all you'll send us, but please spread the shipments out - we need a few slow soakers to get the regrowth started. A whole bunch of rain all at once, and too many people will end up with newly burned hillsides sliding into their bedrooms...

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On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 23:05:40 -0600, Wayne Cook wrote something ......and in reply I say!:

I tried 4 times.

Hehe! By which time the bolt and the drill bit were soft enough to try drilling again eh?

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Imagine a _world_ where Nature's lights are obscured by man's. There would be nowhere to go. Or wait a while. Then you won't have to imagine.

I assume you are talking about a substantial bolt, 1/2 or abouts. The best way is to center drill it and use a left hand tap in that. Most folks aren't set up for that. Next best is center drill, then take a clean peice of rod and sweat that into the hole created. This creates dramatically more contact between the bolt and what you are trying to remove it with. I have actually done it once where I drilled a hole, then beat an allen wrench I didn't care about down the hole and removed the bolt with that. The entire frozen mess was then discarded.

They make "removers" or whatever the name is, which are left threaded very coarse pitch taper threaded deals that can be used for this. I was trying to get a spark plug out once that I had ripped up so badly in the engine that only the threaded housing was left, hollow. I used the remover deal, but could not get enough purchase on it. So welded the remover to a socket drive extender, and out it came.

The bigger the hole in the bolt, the better, because the bolt will weaken and loose its grip. just be sure not to drill past the end of the bolt (look at the length of similar bolts), or drill misaligned. There are some good tricks for this, such as a stop collar you put on the drill for depth control, and drilling a hole first in some thick plate, then using that as a drill guide.

Finally, remember what the book "art of motorcycle maintence" had to say. If a

30 cent bolt is stuck in your $6000 car, that bolt is not worth 30 cents anymore. It is worth $6000 until you get it out, and deserves every bit of $6000 worth of attention and care.

is to center

Next best is center

This creates dramatically

actually done

down the hole and

Shhhh. Don't say things like that. The worst messes I get are from people trying to do just that. Never ever recommend drilling. Unless you're setup for it you're more likely to make a huge mess than get the bolt out.

plug out once that

hollow. I used

Those should be outlawed. They're the worst thing to use. If you use a easy out then at least get the square kind. The spiral ones will just tighten the bolt in the hole.

loose its grip.

similar bolts), or drill

on the drill for

as a drill guide.

Again this is just the advise I hate to see given. I've had to take out to many messes where people have broken 3 drills in the bolt, drilled the threads half gone, and otherwise turned a 5 minute job into a half a day job.

30 cent bolt

worth $6000 until

True. I've saved a lot of dollars worth of stuff removing broken fasteners. I've done it by most every method you can think of. But I stand my statement that welding to the bolt is the best and should be the first method. The others are just backups that take 10 times as long.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

No they don't. First they tighten the bolt in the hole, then they snap off.

Busted bolt -> busted drill -> busted easyout -> busted carbide drill, etc etc etc.

Jim

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On Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:37:42 GMT, "Scott Moore" wrote something ......and in reply I say!:

is to center

Next best is center

This creates dramatically

actually done

down the hole and

Trouble is the OP has a drill bit broken off and stuck in the bolt end, because they were trying to drill it.... :-<

Actually, given your $6000 bolt idea below, the allen wrench thing sounds good. A couple of dollars well spent.

plug out once that

hollow. I used

I gave up on "Ezy outs" I would have thought they would be case hardende or something, but the one I used snapped like a drill bit, with a lot of ctystalline look to the fracture, when I tried to back a bolt out. Not impressed. They have saved me a couple of times, but AFAICS are not good in _really_ tight jobs.

loose its grip.

similar bolts), or drill

on the drill for

as a drill guide.

30 cent bolt

worth $6000 until

Hard thing to keep reminding yourself on the 5th try

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Imagine a _world_ where Nature's lights are obscured by man's. There would be nowhere to go. Or wait a while. Then you won't have to imagine.