Hey,

well I was out there in the garage removing the alternator pulley and swapping in the dual belt one. i used the poor man's method and used a srewdriver to stop the alt. while i loosened the pulley nut. i got it off without bending the alt's fins and put the dual belt pulley on and tightened it down. everything went good until i decided to remove the fan, so i can put the 2 new belts on when i buy them. there's four screws that hold the fan to the pulley. the first 2 that i loosened SNAPPED OFF! the heads of the bolts broke. i got the other 2 off just fine and the fan came off like it was supposed to. i'm pretty sure i can get one of the broken bolts out with vicegrips because there is a sufficient amount of the bolt left to grip and twist. the other one is gonna have to be drilled out. do u guys think it's be okay with just 3 bolts instead of four, that is if i do end up getting that one bolt out. this pissed me off because it was cold out and my hands were freezing. i thought everything was gonna go well today and it did until this. i know it's not a big deal but i don't really want to buy a new fan if i don't have to. if anyone has a fan they want to sell then PM me or something. thanks.

NATE

P.S.- My GTECH PRO COMP finally came.

 

You'll really be upset when you realize you don't have to take the fan off to change alternator belts.

 

i second that

 

I third that .

~T.J.

 

Yup!

 

For what it's worth, I think it will be okay with three bolts. But if were me, I would try everything to get that shank out . I would even drill and chase the threads with a tap if necessary.

 

hey look on the bright side, now you neeeeed to go electric fan

 

After you're done being pissed off, be consoled by the fact that I've been running my daily driver with only three bolts on the fan for over 10K miles now. A buddy of mine (we'll just call him hercules) snapped one off when we were changing my timing belt. I decided to wing it and just deal with it if it sheared off completely - so far so good. This is on an '88 929, FWIW.

 

I have direct experience with this:

I snapped off 2 of the bolts holding the water pump pulley on when I was installing my electric fan. I'm not sure if those are the exact bolts you're referring to, but I think so. I'm talking about the bolts were stuck in my water pump pulley with nothing sticking out. I drilled them out easily - just do a careful job, be sure to drill straight and you'll be fine.

Now, the only thing is, when I did it, I had the radiator and everything out of the car, so there was much more room to get in there and see what I was doing - it might be harder without that part. You could take the hood off if you wanted to.

I certainly would not leave the bolt like that - that's sloppy work man, don't do that **** with an RX-7. Be patient and do a good job getting it out, and you'll be happier in the long run.

 

That sucks. I've done it. Pretty easy to do. But I don't like the idea of things not being perfectly (evenly) secured.
I suggest that you simply leave it untill a nice hot summers day in the future. Get a 6 pack (or a 12 pack if you're a pig like SilverRocket) and do it right. Remove the radiator. If you don't, you'll find you'll probably need to remove the hood.

Then you'll hit the backside of the radiator fins with the drill and **** em all up anyway.
Then you'll be really mad. And really drunk, too!
But if you pop out that radiator and grille, and you'll be looking it right in the face.

Or just leave it.

 

I was going to say, before reading your entire post... A TIMING BELT? haha... but then I read the last 7 words...

Jeff

 

I agree with the guys - remove the rad and drill - I would try an "easy out" first - might save you the trouble of tapping new threads. And if any bolt at all is showing, you may want to try cutting 2 slots in it to form a cross hair (dremel tool) and use a philips screwdriver on it (soak it first in WD 40) - just a few more ideas that i have used in the past (I've twisted off many a bolt/screw over the years)

 

I imagine these bolts are close to the center of the fan...

But, would it at all cause an imbalance, like when I was 8 and would tie my He-Man characters to the blades of the big box fans at my grandparent's house.....and after I turn the fan on, it is violentally jumping about, scratching the walls......and ending up with me being grounded for 2 weeks?

 

Naw man, not anymore... Last time I did that, there was trouble!

 

simple answer - nope

but, you might still want to fix it just because....makes it stronger with 4 bolts.

 

Explain this because I don't see my belts fitting over the fan blades. Maybe my belts are too small? I have tried this 2 times and it didn't work.

 

you can. you just put the belt over one blade at a time. that way, it only has to go the length of one blade every time.

Jeff

 

alright i'll try that tomorrow and if it works i'll be goddamned.


Nate

 

Yeah, just put one blade through the center of the belts, hold them still, and turn the fan. The belts will go on by themselves.

 

i have three bolt on my fan and i havent had any trouble

 

Copius amounts of WD-40 on the stub thats left in there and when you remove the pulley from around the water pump hub, you might be able to work it out from the back with some needle nose pliers.

I would advise that if you do drill it, that you still use some form of penetrating lube and a small bit to try and get the piece to spin out the back side.

If you end up oversizing the hole you'll need to do the same to the opposite side as well or water pump bearing life could possibly suffer from the imbalance. (especially if you rev the motor up past 5K much)

 

well I went out there today and amazingly I got the broken bolts out using only small visegrips. The one that was broken off badly had a tiny piece of metal left to it and the the visegrips held. it took minimal effort to unscrew it. i lucked out on this one guys. now i have to find new metric bolts and i doubt the hardware stores have them around here. thanks for the help everyone.


NATE

 

You are SOOOO lucky!!!

 

Which is precisely why I included those last 7

Nate, try Tractor Supply Co. if you have one up your way. They have a pretty decent selection of Grade 8 hardware.

 

Holy crap...I just realized your avatar is a crop circle kinda shaped like a rotor!! Cool!! Nice photoshop man, did you do it? Or where did you find it?

~T.J.