Last week as I was trying to install my pineapple racing idler pulley, and I ended up trying to remove the wrong bolt. When I tried to take it out, the bolt snapped. The bolt that snaped was the lower-right thermostat housing bolt. I knew I was going to have to take off the thermostat housing to get to it to take it out with an easy-out, so I ordered a new thermostat, FC thermoswitch, and radiator hoses since I would have to dain the coolant.

Today I drilled in the snapped bolt, so I could get a good sieze on the easy out. I started to turn it and the easy out snapped.

Now what do I do? I thought about drilling out the easy out, and progressively making the drill bit size bigger and just drill out the rest of the bolt as well. Well none of my drill bits will cut into the easy out, so I'm not sure what bits to look for, if that's even the right thing to do anymore.

any suggestions?

 

Good luck is all I can say, easy outs are extremely hard metal but with that being said they are vary brittle. You can try taking a small punch the cracking the easy out and try to get most of it out that way. It probably won't work but worth a shot. You will most likely have to get some really good bits, a slow speed drill, and a drill doctor to sharpen the bit because the easy out will dull the bit extremely quick. Drill the bolt out, and put in a heli-coil. I had the same thing happen to me but on a turbo manifold for a DT466 (International Diesel Engine) and it was a pain

 

not to worry, this is an easy fix. you will need to spend some money though. go to your local industrisl supply store and buy an appropriate size carbide drill bit. center punch the easy out if you can. drill at 400 rpm and keep steady pressure. this is how ive removed broken easy outs before

 

I've tried using a punch, no joy in breaking the easy out loose. I'll look for some bits tomorrow. Maybe my work will have some I can borrow.

 

[QUOTE=doofy;10538873]Last week as I was trying to install my pineapple racing idler pulley, and I ended up trying to remove the wrong bolt. When I tried to take it out, the bolt snapped. The bolt that snaped was the lower-right thermostat housing bolt. I knew I was going to have to take off the thermostat housing to get to it to take it out with an easy-out, so I ordered a new thermostat, FC thermoswitch, and radiator hoses since I would have to dain the coolant.


Yikes, perhaps you should have just bought a nice used thermostat housing instead of all the related hardware, maybe not, I dont know all the history but...

It is my opinion you will have to start w/a very small bit and increase bit size as you go, like 4-6 bits. In that situation however, it is my opinion that it is better to just drill out the bolt shank form the start, no easy out. When easy outs (cracks me up how thet call em "easy" outs) are used where you are talkin about, where there is such a thin wall around part of the original threaded hole, I bet the alum is gonna crack.

I'd try some colbalt bits, w/slow drill as mentioned earlier. Then hopefully you can just clean/re-tap the threads, I think the easy out is bad news here bro.

Good luck, hope you get it ok.

Good luck.

 

Talk to the maintenance guys here at my work, they said this happens a lot to them. The manager told me they use cobalt bits to drill the bust easy-outs out, and that they will lend me a set of their bits. Then they said they've been using left-hand or reverse cobalt bits on broken bolts instead of using easy-outs. Going to try again tonight with these bits, hopefully this will take care of it.

 

I had the same issue(easy out in bolt) and the cobalt bits went dull within 30 seconds.
If the piece is removed from the engine, take it a machine shop with an electric discharge machining setup. They can just vaporize the tap out and leave the threads almost perfect.

 

get another thermostat housing

 

The snapped bolt/easyout is stuck in the water pump housing, and it's still on the car.

 

Remove the water pump housing, you will need to anyway in order to drill it out if you go that direction...

Drill press is really needed to do that.

 

wow! same thing happen to me on the water pump housing... Kinda funny I thought I was the only one that ran into this problem lol. I left it alone though and its been sitting like that for over a year now because it was on my old engine that is just sitting in the garage now. I will be drilling it out though on the drill press at my work soon.

 

Ok, well the cobalt drill bits did nothing. So I decided to just take off the housing. All the bots removed, hoses removed, omp lines out of the way, and I can't get the housing off. The radiator return hose line is hitting the radiator support bar. How do you get this waterpump housing off? This 1 damn bolt snapping is becomming a nightmare.

 

I feel your pain. been there done that on my FC. I wish you luck.

 

Is this what you're looking for?


I just gave it a quick look in real life and all the threaded holes appear to be in decent shape. I can see how you broke a bolt. They are only 6mm x 1.00. Kinda small for something that's near water, you know?

Send me a PM if you'd like this waterpump housing.

 

you cant use cobalt bits to drill through an easyout. a cobalt hss bit has a hardness of rc 65-67. you need to use a carbide bit which has a hardness of approx rc 85+(converted). an easy out has a hardness of around 65 to 70 on the rc scale. basically all this means is a carbide bit is needed to cut through the easy out. it is almost impossible to do with cobalt

 

I decided to just replace the whole water-pump housing, not going to bother drilling anymore.

After doing some searching it looks like I have to use the "double-nut" method and take out the long studs going into the front iron. That makes me nervous, given the other problems I've already had. Hopefully they didn't loctite the water-pump housing studs.

 

Before you use the double nut method, do yourself a favor and heat the iron with a propane torch. MAPP gas is better if you have it. Protect nearby things from the flame.

 

weld a bolt to the broken easy out and take that out first, you might get lucky and the whole broken bolt with it. that's about your ONLY alternative to salvaging the housing.

by the way, don't bother with easy outs. they almost never work in cases where they really need to be used for. the issue is that the bolts usually break because the threads are siezed and the easy outs spread the material deeper into the threads causing them to jam tighter while they are already siezed up.

the weld trick is the easiest by far and i use it alot with broken taps in threaded holes, broken studs, etc. but i know not everyone has a mig/tig welder on hand.

 

Looks like I won't have too. I looked at the bay for about 30 seconds and realized I can just remove the cross bar. So I removed battery, battery tray, removed the 4 bolts holding the bar in, and can now slide the waterpump housing on/off without worrying abot snapping another stud.

finally a sigh of relief

 

Not worried about using the housing anymore. Got a replacement housing, gaskets, and hardware on the way. Just gotta play the waiting game now.

 

Yeah, like two days or so.

 

Wife says I have to have homework done before car time from now on.

 

Sounds like a metaphor for something else.... Gotta keep the wife happy!

 

Nah, I'm actually working on my MBA. Got 1 more year left.

 

OP: new WP housing easiest way to go. No regrets.

Jeff: I'm tryin' to learn here - why do you say to heat the iron? I use the double nut method all the time and never had an issue with the long WP housing studs.

TIA
Crispy