Front strut tower brace install -15 min right? 5Hrs later...
#1
Perpetual Rebuilder
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Front strut tower brace install -15 min right? 5Hrs later...
I was feeling a bit lazy today (raining out side) but couldnt let a Saturday go by without doing at least one thing for the car. I had my $7 ebay front strut tower brace sitting in the garage for at least a month so I figured I'd go ahead and put that in. 15 minutes and then I could lay around the rest of the day guilt-free.
First thing to go wrong - two bolts (out of 6) on the koni's are stripped -both on the drivers side. So I decide to pull one of the non stripped ones off and head up to Lowe's to get 6 new ones to replace them all. Trouble is that koni decided to make the bolt head an allen wrench. 20 minutes later I have one off. At lowes I screw the bolt into their bolt sizing display and it fits perfectly into the 10mmx1.5 size so I get all the bolts I need and head to sears to get a allen head socket to take the rest of the bolts out. I spend about 20 minutes looking for a 5.5mm allen socket but no luck. I find a 7/32" (I think) one that feels pretty good so I decide to get that one.
Back at the house - try to put the 10mm into the koni but no luck. wtf? I try to put one of the nuts on the 10mm bolt and it only goes a couple of threads. I am think what the heck is going on then it comes to me. The konis are not metric! Crap! So back to lowes I go. Return the metric bolts and find the right size non-metric bolts.
Back to the house again and the passenger side is done - the socket was a good call. Now for the hard part get the stripped bolts off. I figure I would just start taking the bolt out from the bottom and that would put upward pressure on the nut and hopefully it would catch and it does for both nuts! All downhill from here! NOT one of the allen heads strips! I cut the 2 bolts off so the stripped parts dont screw up threads on koni's. I get one of the bolts out, and start working on the stripped one. I stick a different sized allen wrench in and get a few more turns before it is completely stripped. Then I take a dremmel and cut 2 sides of the round head off to give me 2 flat surfaces to put a vice grip plyers on to it. After a long and frustrating time it is finally out. One to go. I manage to get it out without striping it! All bolts go back in and I put the bar on in 2 minutes. Fit is great and it feels solid - looks good.
What a day...I think I am going to drink a couple beers...
Shawn
First thing to go wrong - two bolts (out of 6) on the koni's are stripped -both on the drivers side. So I decide to pull one of the non stripped ones off and head up to Lowe's to get 6 new ones to replace them all. Trouble is that koni decided to make the bolt head an allen wrench. 20 minutes later I have one off. At lowes I screw the bolt into their bolt sizing display and it fits perfectly into the 10mmx1.5 size so I get all the bolts I need and head to sears to get a allen head socket to take the rest of the bolts out. I spend about 20 minutes looking for a 5.5mm allen socket but no luck. I find a 7/32" (I think) one that feels pretty good so I decide to get that one.
Back at the house - try to put the 10mm into the koni but no luck. wtf? I try to put one of the nuts on the 10mm bolt and it only goes a couple of threads. I am think what the heck is going on then it comes to me. The konis are not metric! Crap! So back to lowes I go. Return the metric bolts and find the right size non-metric bolts.
Back to the house again and the passenger side is done - the socket was a good call. Now for the hard part get the stripped bolts off. I figure I would just start taking the bolt out from the bottom and that would put upward pressure on the nut and hopefully it would catch and it does for both nuts! All downhill from here! NOT one of the allen heads strips! I cut the 2 bolts off so the stripped parts dont screw up threads on koni's. I get one of the bolts out, and start working on the stripped one. I stick a different sized allen wrench in and get a few more turns before it is completely stripped. Then I take a dremmel and cut 2 sides of the round head off to give me 2 flat surfaces to put a vice grip plyers on to it. After a long and frustrating time it is finally out. One to go. I manage to get it out without striping it! All bolts go back in and I put the bar on in 2 minutes. Fit is great and it feels solid - looks good.
What a day...I think I am going to drink a couple beers...
Shawn
#4
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With allen bolts, I find that if you put the allen wrench in first then take a set of vice grips and tighten them down around the allen head bolt that they don't strip anymore. My OS Giken clutch has all 10mm allen head bolts...never once stripped yet because I do this trick.
#7
Perpetual Rebuilder
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Originally posted by Assud
Why didnt you just slot the head with your dremel and use a flathead screwdriver?
Why didnt you just slot the head with your dremel and use a flathead screwdriver?
Originally posted by jspecracer7
With allen bolts, I find that if you put the allen wrench in first then take a set of vice grips and tighten them down around the allen head bolt that they don't strip anymore.
With allen bolts, I find that if you put the allen wrench in first then take a set of vice grips and tighten them down around the allen head bolt that they don't strip anymore.
Shawn
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#8
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Originally posted by shawnk
I dont think I understand. Put the allen wrench into the bolt then vice grip the allen wrench? I was taking a long socket with a 6 inch extention to lever over the end to get the bolt to move. The bolts were ridiculously difficult to move. I put grade 8 eveything back so I hope I wont ever have the same (exact) problem again.
Shawn
I dont think I understand. Put the allen wrench into the bolt then vice grip the allen wrench? I was taking a long socket with a 6 inch extention to lever over the end to get the bolt to move. The bolts were ridiculously difficult to move. I put grade 8 eveything back so I hope I wont ever have the same (exact) problem again.
Shawn
#9
addicted to lounge
Allen bolts and torx heads (stars) were created by the devil himself. I always replace them with regular bolts unless they are absolutely neccesary which is very rare.
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