schurchill39

We decided to do my LSD sap today into my 1988 base modle FC.
In short: Unexperienced friend+ 5 foot braker bar=one broken sub frame bolt for me.
My car is my only mode of transportation around the city (work and school) so this needs to be delt with quickly.
Is is possible to replace this bolt and if so how would I go about doing it? I looked on the other side where the bolt head would be but its coved by bracing and sheet metal. I am assuming i would have to cut and weld the bracing back into place. Where would be the best place to find a bolt or order one in quickly? I have a parts car so worst comes to worst i can steal one off of there. Does any one have any experience with my misfortune?

Any help wat so ever is appreciated
Thank you!

Dltreezan

iTrader: (3)

yeah I need to know too becausei i stripped mine getting my diffy back on there

takahashiRyosukeFC3S

maybe use my grandfather old rusty bolt removal trick?? heat the center of the bolt with a torch and let it cool repeatedly. this should make some of the rust turn to powder from the slight expantion and contraction of the metals. hit it a few times with penetrating oil (PB Blaster, Kroyal... etc) then youll need a drill for your apliction drill it and get an easy out with a 5lb sledge and an old hand/hammer driven impact wrench. this lets the teeth of the easy out really bit in to the bolt... I'm sorry aI can't offer any advice from my own experience though.

hope this helps,
TR

slpin

iTrader: (9)

which one? picture?

MaczPayne

iTrader: (5)

Mine are stripped too. I don't want to ditch the 86 sport just because of that.

MXC does rule.

gildardo

I did the same thing on one of them... althow it was my falt cus i switched the nuts with the frunt diff moun, the threads have different pitch, i didn't figure it out till i had finished installing it.. But yah i would like to know too..


Gil

NeCr0mStR

iTrader: (3)

everyone relax

if you have stripped bolt threads, just go and get the proper tap sets and re-thread the bolt threading back to the original. Its easy... I could tell you what they all are (because I just replaced all bolts and nuts in rear) but I don't remember off the top of my head.

I think the Subframe is a 14mm x 1.50 pitch , The Rear Differential is a 12mm x 1.25 or 1.50 pitch, and any hardware store should be able to help you out if you take down a nut or a bolt to them. They can easily size it up and then you need the tap or die (i don't remember which is which) to re-thread a bolt (is a hex shaped piece with threads in it) You just tighten that on to the stripped bolt with a socket .

MAKE SURE IT GOES ON STRAIGHT!!!!! OR YOU ARE GOING TO BE F'D IN THE END.

Go slowly and make sure to tighten it a little and then loosen it so that you can remove the metal you cut away. It will take some time and effort to do it right but it is easy enough to do.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT SIZE!!!!

I can't state that enough.

JC Whitney has a nice tap set for metric in it and craftsman sells a good tap set with standard and metric amd also has the gauges to measure pitch with it. A good tap set is ALWAYS useful when working on cars.

I hope this helps people

NeCr0mStR

iTrader: (3)

I don't see anything on how to fix this problem... I would assume you have to have it welded in, but I don't know for sure. It might be something that is bolted in with a steel flange from up above tho.

SexInDaRex

do you mean the bolt that is part of the car that comes off of the car in which you slide the subframe through?

If so I will have to say good luck and it is not a quick fix. That is a custom job big time.

slo

iTrader: (1)

A creative machine shop, should be able to fix this for the cost of a few hours labor.

schurchill39

Do you think a mazda dealership could bring it in? I called the local dealship today but the parts desk wasnt open. Worst comes to worst I will cut it out of my parts car but i dont know how to get at the top of the bolt?!

SexInDaRex

dude is it one of the main bolts that hols the subframe to the body? if so I doubt it will be as simple as removing the bolt. That will require work and it wont be a few hours it will most likely require welding not to mention cutting on both cars and if it doesn't work both cars are screwed!

TAKE A PIC OF IT SO I CAN BE SURE OF WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!

tIIforever

drill it out and helicoil that bitch

gxlbiscuit

if you people dont know what he is talking about.... hush up. He is refering to a BOLT not a BOLT HOLE. this bolt/stud is snapped. this stud/bolt is attached to the frame of the car. once its broken its probably ranking up there with rear fender repair and open heart surgery. I have never broken this stud that sticks out of the floor pan so i really cant help but i just wanted to clear up the stupid/misunderstood replies. sorry hear this.. leave your breaker bars for the flywheel nut.

SexInDaRex

THANK YOU! That is what I thought it was the whole time. like I said above good luck

schurchill39

This is what we are planing on doing (on top of beating my friend with that fricken braker bar):

Cut the bolt off as close to the body as possible then drill it out from the bottom starting with a small bit then going bigger until we have drilled out the circumforance of the bolt. This way there will just be a hole inside the body so we dont have to cut and weld major parts of the body so it still has most of its structural integrity. Then we will slide either a new bolt from mazda or a bolt from the parts car in through the top, reinforcing it around the top (welding/welding plates) so its just as strong as the rest. Then reinstall the sub frame and tighten it all down and hope like hell my LSD is installed properly.

Does this sound like a good plan (to the people who actually know what is going on here)? Although this sounds more then sturdy enough any more ideas to reinforce it? I will probably weld a plate over top of it once its in and I will do the same to the other side so its equal, reinforce it all.

hollywood_35

Well I must say that I being the retarded friend with the breaker bar, that maybe if you would have done any of this work yourself I bet you yourself would have snapped the bolt. That bolt was seized, point blank. Taking the torch to it was not an option, unless you wanted to melt your subframe bushing and have more work to do after we broke the bolt loose. I highly doubt that even if we soaked the bolt in WD-40 for hours on it end it would not have made it any easier to remove. The best route would have been to use a high quality penatrating oil and let it soak for a few minutes. But seeing as this was a rush job and you wanted the car done that night we did not have any time to go buy some. This broken bolt isn't a hard task to tackle, considering what I did just last week to my own car.

Now Scott, before you come on here and start rendering me the unexperienced retard with a breaker bar hoping that I won't read it, think about what I'm doing for you. I let you use my garage, my tools, and when you think about it, I did more than my share of the work that night. In exchange for... 3 slices of pizza. I would consider that more than a good deal on your part, and yet you come on here and trash me. You should be damn lucky that on an 18 year old car we only snapped one single bolt. Now before you continue to pass the blame to me, think about how on earth you would have done a swap like this without me.

skir2222

unexperienced retard with a breaker bar... j/k guess you gotta expect that from a old car though

Rotary_Knight

iTrader: (4)

Did you guys put a jack under the subframe, or Diff. to give it support? Because if you had the rear end hanging down some, all that weight would've been on the bolt causing much more stress than needed. A simple jacking up the Rear Diff. a little to straighten it out would have taken the load off and the bolt would of been easy to take off.

I don't know, but that's my experience with bolts and such. Goodluck I dont know what to tell ya on how to get it off. Just heat it up like crazy and try something to get it out. I dont know?

gxlbiscuit

touchy touchy.. its pretty funny but we didnt know who broke the car.. BUT NOW WE DO.. if it was true bad mouthing and bashing. we would all be chanting way to go Hollywood... you broke it:-p muhahahaha man guys watch out for that hollywood dude.... the denial of feeling bad about breaking someones car makes you do dumb things(like calling yourself out):-P......... muhahahaha 5 foot breaker bar i hope he was exagerating.......

SexInDaRex

i think that a little common sense and some planning would have been smart on your behalf. Those bolst are thick and dont normally snap. it will be for th LAST ****** TIME a job that will have to be done correctly and will require time. there will be weight resting on the bolt and it will need to hold up. Stop crying on here and show up a picture of the bolt. A PICTURE OF THE BOLT WOULD HELP IN ASSESSING THE SITUATION. I am sure of it.

schurchill39

Alright, lets untangle your panties and look at the situation. Have you ever done an LSD swap, major work like this, or even worked on an RX-7? Nope, there for you are unexperienced (meaning you have little to no experience), same with me and same with Ryan; even though yes out of the 3 of us you have done the most work on vehicles. No where did I call you a retard or bashed you, I simple stated that you were unexperienced (not even pointing you out knowing full well you have an account here), I am sure if you actually took time to read the thread you will definitly notice that 1. no bashing took place and 2, the main focus was to figure out a solution short of your "Cut and reweld everything". Never did I say I was ungratefull for your help, infact I am pretty sure I told you numerous times how much I appreciated it. If you want to be a mechanic you have to start somewhere and thats doing work on your car and your friends cars no matter where or when or with what. Thats how you gain experience.
Your wanting to charge for every little thing is not only ignorant but down right stupid. If you were getting paid for this (but seeing as your not licenced your not) then it would be your responsibility to pay for the broken bolt and make sure the structure stayed strong. But seeing as your not, it falls on my shoulders.
Like I told you before, I do not want you to do the work for me, I want you to do it with me, i cant learn my own car if I dont work on it. Jumping under the car and doing everything yourself and using me as a tool gopher is not helping me, it just adds to your "you must pay me" ego. It also doesnt give you the right to bitch at me for "not doing anything" because frankly, there was nothing for me to do seeing as you were doing everything.
What upsets me the most is that you dont seem to realise that this car is pretty much my life, it gets me to and from school, to and from work and to and from friends; a part like this breaking leaves me no way to get to work (take off $200 for this weekends loss) or friends. Its not as simple as go and get a new bolt and put it in and you know that, thats why I came here for help, and your continuous self rightousness here and on beyond.ca is uncalled for.
Also, yes I could of done it myself, i am not as stupid as you think, i did help take the LSD off the other car. I asked you because i know your a little more skilled on the mechanical side then me and seeing as we havent done anything in 3 months i figured it would be a good time to do so, do something we both enjoy. I appreciate all the help you have given me, working on the car, helping to find a solution, and keeping the car at your house while we work the problem out, so please dont turn this into another "pointing the fingers game" like all the beyond threads. You didnt get flamed or put down so I would expect the same respect out of you. Lets keep this thread clear of personal bullshit and try to stick to the point of how we are gunna fix it.
With that said, lets forget this and work on it. I will call mazda tomorrow, if not we need to go to the parts car and cut that bolt out and drill my car out so charge your drill in the morning

hollywood_35

Just for a sense of humor... but no.

As for using the 5 foot breaker bar, it's true. We would not of even gotten the wheels off if we didn't have that damn thing. I couldn't manage enough leverage on any of the bolts seeing as the car was sitting only 2 feet from the ground, and I was under it on the creeper. Don't get me wrong but instead of trying to wedge myself against a car thats supported only by jackstands just to stop from rolling away isn't a good method of getting leverage, it would be much easier to get my friend to use the breaker bar from behind the car.

To answer your question yes, I made sure to have the jack under the center of the differential with tension on it to lift the whole subframe. If there was a ton of pressure on the bolt, that would have caused that mount to drop when the bolt snapped, which it didn't.

To the other issue. You made both me and Ryan feel like we were to blame the moment that bolt snapped. As soon as you realized what happened you picked up your phone and called your work and then your parents to tell them what just happened. I'm sorry to say it but if you were expecting this procedure to go as smooth as you had been told by people on the intarweb then you shouldn't be modifying your car. Anytime you work on a vehicle you should always expect things to break; especially one as old as yours and with the condition it's in. Sure you've read of people doing this in 3 hours tops but every car is different. Surely browing the internet you've read of people who have project cars and they either go to swap and engine or even if they're changing the brake pads, anything can go wrong.

And I'm not sure where you got the feeling that I want to charge for my services, but I don't. When I proposed maybe you buy me a bottle of tequila for letting you use my stuff, that wasn't implying that I'm charging you. I painted and airbrushed Ryan's guitar and he's buying me a $15 bottle of tequila, but not because I'm charging him, it's because me and him are working on it together and it's a sign of goodwill because he knows the work that goes into laying out the flames by hand and mixing the different shades to airbrush with. If he wasn't a friend I'd be damn stupid to charge anything under $100 for the time I spent doing his guitar. I proposed that maybe you give me $15 since I was doing you this favour, and you told me to go **** myself and that I was getting conceeded. Now if you consider asking for $15 for lending you my garage, tools, and time trying to "charge" you, then you're in for a rude awakening when you want to do some more work in my garage and I tell you to take your **** shove it.

I'm not into bantering back and forth on the internet with a friend of mine who's trying to become drift king of southeast alberta... but me, Ryan, and my family are all a little upset with the way you've responded to me lending my services. And instead of calling me conceeded for just asking for a return of the favour, maybe return the favour instead of being so hard up about it.

drft_180sx

mmmmm....popcorn.

MaczPayne

iTrader: (5)

Pictures, please. Pictures now! Stop arguing and snap some photos of the real problem!