Getting the throttle plate screws out without drilling?
 

I sure as hell have not been able to do it. Im on my second TB mod now, and for the second time, I have not been able to take out the screws that held in the secondary plates without drilling them out.
People say that they are loctited in, so I tried a blowtorch and NOTHING, they won't budge, but they sure do strip. I just drilled them out.

The problem with drilling is that in order for the screw to become weak, you must drill past the base of it, and this fucks up the threads on the throttle plate rod. Plus I don't want to have to look for new screws.

The reason im asking this is becuase I plan to powdercoat my new TB and all levers and shit on it, so I need a way to get the screws off without damaging them and then send in the barebone TB for coating.

How in the hell did you guys do it?
thx

Impact driver.... right tool for every job.

Impact screw driver.

damn he beat me.

what? ok, that would strip it even quicker than my hand screwdriver! Maybe im using the wrong bit or something..

no... impact is the way to go.

or if you don't have one...
Simply position the screwdriver into the screwhead and whack it with a hammer.
Now try and unscew it. It should undo easily

I will give that a shot!
ALright, so im actually using a flathead and not a fillips, imo it seems to grip better and prevent stripping more.

Phillips bit in an impact driver.

An impact driver is not an impact gun. An impact driver is a tool which transmits a hammer blow into a twsiting force... it pushes down and turns at the same time. It works every time for me on throttle body screws (as it also does with the screws for the auxilary port actuaotr rods).

Hand screwdriver just strips em every time for me. Did it on my FC throttle plates and did it on my FD throttle plates on my FD manifold.

I agree, impact driver.

I see, I thought you meant that it was some kind of pnuematic tool. Don't have a compressor so fuck that.

Where can I find it? princess auto?

Princess will have them for $9.99 but be wary of princess's impact bits for the drivers, they aren't strong enough to deal with larger screws (like the ones mentioned below) They should work fine for TB's.... I was able to find a decent impact driver with decent bits at KMS tools here in BC for $20.
Lordco will likely have one as well.

You can use an impact driver to loosen alot of stuck screws and bolts... I have a few pneumatic impact guns so I don't use them much for bolts, but for stuck screws, a driver is very handy. Another perfect location for using an impact driver is removing the phillips head screws which retain the brake rotors to the hubs.

This is the tool you're after:
http://www.mytoolstore.com/kd/kdspec02.html

Third item down.
You twist the end piece, place the bit onto your screws, and hit it hard with a metal hammer.

On the throttle body, make sure you brake the shafts from twisting (prevent the throttle plates from being able to open).

excellent! thanks. I'll check around for it and look for a decent quality one with harder bits. I never knew about this tool, but it looks like it could have saved me a lot of heart-ache if I had it earlier in my mechanical life!

thanks

The hammer-type impact driver works great! I've done 2 TBs now and the screws came right out with a few solid whacks.
As for the screws, I went down to the hardware store and got some really short countersink screws and a countersink bit. I drilled the throttle rods with the countersink bit until the new screws sat flush with the rod and the ends of the threads just met the other side ot the shafts. (Every bit counts, right?) :D

And don't forget loads of PB Blaster.

When I put the screws back in ,should I use thermal poxy, or should I use something a little less bonding?

Blue loctite.

I dunno about you people... I've done 3 throttle body mods now, and i've been able to get every screw out using a regular phillips screwdriver. I don't even use any kind of lubricant whatsoever. It's all about using the correct size bit.

That's um... neat. Congrats.
I've done... a heck of a lot more than three. Too many to count.
Correct size bit? There are only three common sizies of phillips head-screw driver's. Only one will fit into the screw. :rolleyes:

You can get some of the screws out with a screwdriver. Some you can not. Those that can not be removed by a screw driver will be stripped upon trying to remove them, and then have to be drilled out.

You can remove all of the screws without stripping with an impact driver. No risk to the throttle body components.

There's tools that work for a job, and then there's the right tool for the job.