hey guys Im postin this for my friend. He lost his key then messed up the ignition cylinder with a screwdriver.

Now he's trying to remove the cylinder to take it to a locksmith so they can make him a new cylinder. He already had mazda make him a key that works for all the doors.

He is unable to remove the ignition cylinder because there are two headless bolts or something that are used to hold it in and lock the steering wheel.

He tried to take a dremel and make a straight line across the bolts to use a flathead screwdriver and remove them but there is no space to fit a dremel. The piece in front of the cluster (that holds all your light switches and signals and emergency blinkers) is not removable without taking out the steering wheel or something takes too much space to fit a dremel or any tools in there.

The space is too small.. What should he do to take out the ignition cylinder in order to get a new cylinder made?

 

You answered your own question...if their isn't maneuvering room, make some by removing the steering wheel and cluster bezel.
That should take about 5 minutes, hardly a giant imposition.

 

He just doesn't want to remove the wheel because if he doesn't put it on 100% correctly, the steering will be weird

But assume he did remove the steering wheel, what is the fastest and cheapest way to remove the screws? With regular tools and not ones you need to buy

 

I guess all that info in the other thread just isn't good enough?
Pop the steering column surround off.
IF you have to:
Put the front wheels Straight..
Mark the steering wheel if you have to...Pop the steering wheel off IF you have to to get more access.
Ignition switch removal:
Take a Chisel and hammer( or sharp Flat headed screwdriver) and hit the Round headed bolts on the RIGHT Side of it.digging into the head,so that it will turn out counterclockwise like a bolt should do when you loosen it...do BOTH of them.
Ignition falls off.
Are we done now?.

 

The information on the other thread was helpful but I just have a hard time believing that pounding a flathead screwdriver on the bolt will make it go deep enough in so that it is turnable..

 

You and your friend need to have your cars repaired by someone who knows how to use tools and competent.
It's not torqued on that tight.
That piece you're referring to is soft metal and I took mine off in 5 minutes.
Use flat head semi sharp edge and a hammer. You want to make an indentation and tap it loose.

 

I am sorry that we are not as competent and do not know how to use tools as well as you do. We're college students and this is just a weekend hobby. I did not know the screw was soft. Thank you for clearing it up.

I was told you need to use a dremel to cut a line into the screw then take a flathead and screw it out. That's why I thought it was difficult to pound a line deep enough into the screw with a hammer and flathead.

 

The Dremel is the easiest but a chisel/punch w/hammer will do in a pinch.

 

..and I have taken off more ignition switches than a poodle has curls..well,toy poodle..about 20 of them,easily..
For a College student you should actually do the Practical work" as all the "theory and Info" has been Gone over time and time again.
The Dremel thing is nice to do Once the "bolt" is out,as it gives you the bite you need to tighten that bolt back up.Making a slot allows you to screw it back on.
BUT you can use a regular 10mm bolt( lots of them,the same size on the car!.) to put the ignition back on.

 

If you need a replacement M6x1.0 with a 10mm hex head, you can borrow one off your crank pulley, or even your thermostat kneck. If you don't need a door handle, there is one holding one side of that on.

 

Metric hardware is designated by shank, not head size, so those are actually 6mm bolts.

 

Ya,I know that.. but the 10mm heads are obvious.(and my 52 year old brain forgot 6x1.0!)
you can pretty well take the car apart with one wrench!

 

Your friend being a college student should have realized jamming something metal object where a key is used to unlock a mechanism will make that piece useless.
He wouldn't be in this dilemna.