87 TII

I overheated for the first time since i got the car last night, so i was like... oh hell, good thing i was close to my brother's by then. So i have new thermostat and caps today and was thinking... this is a piece of cake.

well when i tried to undo the bolts, the heads came off both screws!!!

there is not enough stud for me to grip anything... its pretty much level with the metal.

Well... any recommendations or advice is desperately needed. thanks in advance.

 

drill bit and a bolt extractor......warm up the housing with the torch a bit too, that will ensure you expand it enough to break the housing free from the bolt and don't end up stripping the remainder, or breaking the extractor.

 

update

I cant drill deep enough into the stud with the drill bits that i got from the extractor kit. The extractors themselves are not catching to break the bolt loose... i've also torched the housing as well but no go.

How long should i hold the torch up to it... i think i did it for like 2 mins....

also, how much threading am i looking at? does the stud have threading all the way down or is it right at the end of the stud?

 

take a picture, Im just not sure exactly which bolts we're talking about.....you don't wanna drill too far.

Take a pic and Ill tell you if you can go further or not

 

good luck, most of the time when a bolt is broken off in aluminum it is better/safer/easier to just drill the bolt out and rethread the housing unless the threads are clean. if the bolt can't be unthreaded with an awl then it is likely bonded to the metal especially in the case where coolant is nearby, the water pump bolts and thermostat bolts usually take a beating.

 

need pics to see how bad it is. worst case, you'll need a new housing and replace those bolts with stainless steel bolts.

 

stainless steel in aluminum is worse actually. the zinc plated bolts with a tiny bit of anti sieze is fine.

 

oh ok. what about using stainless for the water pump studs?

 

studs would be fine, it is just where stainless steel bolts thread to aluminum they tend to bond together after even just a few heat cycles.

stainless steel is great for use in the exhaust components and in the cast iron but not in the aluminum where it has to thread in, you can thread it in but you may never get it out.

 

Pictures up

You can see next to my hand is the coolant refill opening...

 

I'm about ready to go ahead and tow it back to my place and order a whole water pump and inlet assembly and replace the whole thing. i was getting together my cooling system parts anyway, wasnt counting on getting the water pump assembly tho but may as well add that in. Mazdatrix has it, anyone recommend anywhere else that may be less expensive or am i paying for quality at that point?

 

ok i see now...

pull the thermostat housing off and spray the bolts down with rust penetrant and let it soak in for about an hour then try removing em with vice grips.

 

so the threading doesnt go all the way down?

 

do you know where i can get bolts for it?

 

the threads are only in the water pump housing, you can find some replacement bolts at your local hardware store.

 

ah very cool....

I pulled the thermo housing off and am now working on getting the bolts off...

Thanks a billion, tho i am going to go ahead and put in the order for a whole new water pump unit... get ready for a rebuild i recon.