Well What Do I Do Now

"Future Heap Owner" (aperiodic) 09/13/2018 at 10:30 • Filed to: Wrenching fail, Truckpdate

1

20

I went to the woods to camp and hike for a week, but I’m back now and back to trying to fix my bolt situation on the truck. However I might have made things even worse.

I’d drilled out a 1/4" hole, which my bolt extractor said was big enough to use it in. I hammered it in, attached the handle thingy, and torqued it as hard as I could. Nuthin’

Today I went to the store and got two slightly bigger carbide bits, and widened the hole even more, hoping that the thinner the remaining parts of the bolt got, the easier it would come out. Still nuthin’.

So here I am.’

As you might be able to tell from the pics, I think I have drilled past the bolt on one side and into the thermostat housing (is that part of the engine block itself? ) . The part that remains still won’t come out easily. I tried hitting it a few times with a 3/8" chisel, but that’s too wide so I couldn’t get a good angle on it.

Is my best plan at this point to just keep making bigger holes until the bolt is all the way gone, then tap new threads in the thermostat housing? Or is there another option?

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Future Heap Owner 09/13/2018 at 10:36

2

drill it all out, tap it for a bigger bolt.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > Future Heap Owner 09/13/2018 at 10:40

8

I’d say drill it out is your only option at this point, tap the new hole and install a helicoil so you can use the normal sized bolts for the thermostat housing.   

Duck Duck Grey Duck FTMFW! > Future Heap Owner 09/13/2018 at 10:45

1

I agree drill out to next size, run a vacuum in the hole where the thermostat is to catch metal chips so you don’t run them through the water pump if you did drill  through.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 09/13/2018 at 10:46

2

Seconded. Hopefully he won’t go through into that air passage in the process. The normal size bolt thing is key, as would be removing the thermostat housing before that, because a larger bolt/larger hole either won’t fit unless a hex cap screw, or won’t be practical without risk of the ear cracking. Which it’s already likely enough to do.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 09/13/2018 at 10:54

0

Easy enough to avoid drilling through, measure the depth of the hole on the other side and mark it off on the drill bit with some tape a couple of millimeters shallower. Rather safe than sorry. 

MM54 > Future Heap Owner 09/13/2018 at 10:54

0

Is my best plan at this point to just keep making bigger holes until the bolt is all the way gone, then tap new threads in the thermostat housing?

Yes (or helicoil) .

Pickup_man > Future Heap Owner 09/13/2018 at 10:57

0

You could possibly try to heat it with a torch for a bit and then try the extractor , but if you’re already past the point of no return, Helicoil. The kit will tell you what size to drill and comes with a tap.

Urambo Tauro > Future Heap Owner 09/13/2018 at 11:06

1

The thermostat housing is not in the engine block. You’re looking at the intake manifold. That’s what you would be replacing as a last resort here. I don’t think it’s come to that yet though.

If you have drilled all the way through, you likely have shavings inside the coolant passage. The ones from the bolt will be magnetic, but if any of the shavings are intake material , they’ll be aluminum. Maybe you can clean them up with a vacuum, through the thermostat opening. (Otherwise, you’ll have to pull the intake to clean it out and get some new gaskets to reinstall it .)

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 09/13/2018 at 11:07

0

I was thinking he might goon the air passage by drift in the bit and if the casting is thin adjacent to where the hole is. Not a depth issue per se. From his post on 9/1 , with some MS Paint:

Probably won’t happen, but would suck immensely if it did.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 09/13/2018 at 11:09

0

Ah yeah, okay gotcha . I think there is enough meat so long as he is careful.

nermal > Future Heap Owner 09/13/2018 at 11:12

1

What direction is the drill bit you’re using?

Most are clockwise (righty-tighty), make sure that you’re using a counter-clockwise (lefty-loosey) one. Then just keep going up in size.

If the threads are borked, you may need to re-tap them. Good luck!

Censored > Future Heap Owner 09/13/2018 at 11:22

3

This is to late now, but for future use left hand drill bits to drill the center of the bolt. Using a right hand drill bit is actually tightening the bolt as you drill, a left hand bit is putting loosening torque on the fastener as you drill. 9x out of 10 this will remove the bolt without having to use an extractor.

I didn’t watch this video, but the description seems to be what you want.

Future next gen S2000 owner > Future Heap Owner 09/13/2018 at 11:44

1

LSA swap.

Future Heap Owner > Censored 09/13/2018 at 14:55

0

Ah, makes sense. I thought that it didn’t matter in this case because I had cross-threaded it so bad that I didn’t think it would come out with the drilling, but I didn’t think about how I would be making it worse.

Future Heap Owner > nermal 09/13/2018 at 14:58

0

Derp, I was using a right-hand drill bit because I had given up on drilling it loose, not thinking about how it would be making things worse.

NKato > Future Heap Owner 09/13/2018 at 15:43

0

Since its this bad now, your only option is to drill all the way through, and retap the hole. Use a drill bit that is slightly smaller than the actual diameter of the hole, then chase the threads with a tap.

Edit: in the event it's not a through hole, drill carefully.

i86hotdogs > Future Heap Owner 09/13/2018 at 21:33

0

That looks like a Dodge 318. Am I right? Had a similar issue when swapping thermostats on my ‘ 96 Ram Van. There was no room above the housing to work due to the half of the engine being inside the cabin, ended up taking off the entire manifold to drill it out. 

Future Heap Owner > i86hotdogs 09/13/2018 at 21:38

1

It’s a GM small block 350 V8, from a ‘92 K1500 pickup. It is pretty roomy in the bay, which I love, and I’m tall & lanky enough to be able to position the drill straight over the bolt while standing flat on the ground. Have to take the air filter off but that’s just two wingnuts.

i86hotdogs > Future Heap Owner 09/14/2018 at 15:13

1

Sometimes I wish I had a truck preference instead of my love for vans. 

Future Heap Owner > i86hotdogs 09/14/2018 at 16:10

1

Vans are pretty cool too. They are the most efficient arrangement of cargo volume with respect to vehicle footprint. An old van might be my next project.