Damn water pump bolts....
07-03-2005, 01:23 AM
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Damn water pump bolts.... Well my buddy was putting a new opti I ordered on my car and everything was going rather smoothly, no problems or anything...well we get to the water pump removal and all the bolts were so rusted that they were basically like breaking them loose the whole way out. Well the final bolt on the left side decided to break off in the thread while breaking it loose. Well we tapped on it, drilled it in some and then tapped the EZ out in and tried taking it out. Damn bolt wouldn't turn a bit. Well we got some pb blaster, sprayed it down several times and got out the torch and put heat to it also. Repeated that several times and even hit the bolt a few times to maybe shock it loose on a bullshit attempt. Well we drill in the bolt a little more, put the ez out in a little further. Go to turn on it....putting full strength on it, nothing happens....go back to heating it up and go for the final attempt for the night....all of the sudden the damn ez out snaps lol....snapped a ez out on a damn bolt...so we had to try and drill through the ez out...basically like trying to drill through forged steele. Rounded off three bad *** bits we went and specially bought for this. So now we're stuck with a broken bolt with a broken ez out stuck in it. So our next hope is to use a dremel cut the bolt clean and start over...Wish us the best as this is getting old real fast lol
07-03-2005, 05:17 AM
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you know anyone good at tig welding? when this happens my dad will usually weld up on the bolt, build it up untill it protrudes out of the hole, and then weld a nut on it.
07-03-2005, 11:25 AM
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Originally Posted by z28boysteve
you know anyone good at tig welding? when this happens my dad will usually weld up on the bolt, build it up untill it protrudes out of the hole, and then weld a nut on it.
07-06-2005, 01:58 AM
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Oh well...tomorrow we'll find out, im going to buy some welding rods and we're gonna get to it with this idea...hopefully it does the trick...if not, i guess heli coil kit is the next best thing. Wish me good luck
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07-06-2005, 02:46 AM
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Originally Posted by BichizleMyNizle
ive never seen a rusty Lt1 water pump bolt... are they not original?
07-06-2005, 07:28 AM
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Originally Posted by jninan2k2
yeah craig thought of that, but this thing is freakin in there...i mean it broke a ez out...im pretty sure its capable of breakin a weld
07-06-2005, 03:26 PM
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Originally Posted by outdooricon
The weld is going to be stronger then the bolt itself. A good clean weld anyways.
Yeah I dont know much about welding, but since that post it has been brought to my attention that the weld would break the bolt again before it broke off itself...so im hoping for some good results.
07-08-2005, 02:36 AM
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Well for like 3 straight days now, we have tried to weld a nut on the broken bolt and.....we have tried to weld another bolt onto the broken one....all failed attempts 
Even though a lot of you suggested the welded nut to get it off, the lack of space given to weld and lack of surface to weld makes the weld quite hard to accomplish. So we have decided to go back to the ez out approach. First after doing away with the welding idea we grinded the original ez out that broke off, down. Now that the surface is flat and smooth again we have gone back to drilling/dremeling a hole in the bolt to place another size ez out in the bolt. This time we are going with the larger ez out, #5. It is the largest one in the set, so stronger as well. The first one we snapped was #4. 
If this doesn't work, then the heli coil kit is the next approach.
Even though a lot of you suggested the welded nut to get it off, the lack of space given to weld and lack of surface to weld makes the weld quite hard to accomplish. So we have decided to go back to the ez out approach. First after doing away with the welding idea we grinded the original ez out that broke off, down. Now that the surface is flat and smooth again we have gone back to drilling/dremeling a hole in the bolt to place another size ez out in the bolt. This time we are going with the larger ez out, #5. It is the largest one in the set, so stronger as well. The first one we snapped was #4. If this doesn't work, then the heli coil kit is the next approach. 
07-08-2005, 08:34 AM
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Your situation sounds just like mine with my exhaust manfold bolt (I have the bolt sitting on my desk here at work with the huge weld gob, just as a reminder). Here's what we did and remember this is the drivers side engine head so not much space either. We cut a good 45 degree angle on the broken bolt with a dremel. Then we found another bolt and cut a 45 degree angle on the end of that. Then, starting at the bottom end we began a huge weld gob with the two bolt ends mated like this: (broken bolt ->) ==\\===I (<- Other bolt) where the '\' are the 45 degree angle cuts into the bolts. Then worked our way up to the top of the mate. The gob was twice the radius of the bolts. Also, before we began the weld process, we placed a used gasket on the bolt against the engine head, just so we wouldn't hurt the engine head itself. Then, once the weld was done, we began turning the newly created bolt back, and then for ward... it was a gradual process of easing the bolt out, just moving back and forth (It was stuck to a thread so it tooks some with it and rounded out the threading, but not bad enough that I wasn't able to secure another bolt in later). Sorry to bring you back to the welding idea, but i just thought i'd list this incase it'd help.
07-08-2005, 01:16 PM
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Jninan -- The EXACT same thing happened to me last summer. Somehow the threads in the block got damaged, and the bolt would not come out. It finally snapped at about 60lbs-ft of force, and that tension was still on the half stuck in the block.
I also snapped a bolt extractor in it. It didn't even come close to the force I needed to remove the bolt. I was also using a torch to heat things up, as well as the PB Blaster. (Deja vu?).
I also tried welding on a nut to the end of it several times, which is a great idea, but the bolt itself just twisted off a few millimeters after the new welds. (The weld was strong enough for the force, but the bolt material wasnt. Broke off further into the block).
I ended up just having to drill out the entire bolt. I started with a small bit and got it drilled straight down the center. I just kept stepping up in drill bit sizes until it was almost at the threads, then I used a tap to clean out the remaining bolt material from the threads. This worked perfectly -- I didn't even need to use a helicoil -- the threads were perfect.
The hard part is just getting drilled past that broken off EZ-out. If you have a dremel with cutoff wheels, keep sharpening the drill bits by hand -- I had to do this countless times, but it eventually cut through.
Hope you get it out. When you do get it out, go buy a grade-8 replacement from the hardware store. That's what I've been using. 3/8-16 x 4" for the long ones, and 3/8-16 x 2" for the shorter ones. Of course, you'll need the stud on the driver's side middle bolt for the AIR pump bracket if you still use it.
I also snapped a bolt extractor in it. It didn't even come close to the force I needed to remove the bolt. I was also using a torch to heat things up, as well as the PB Blaster. (Deja vu?).
I also tried welding on a nut to the end of it several times, which is a great idea, but the bolt itself just twisted off a few millimeters after the new welds. (The weld was strong enough for the force, but the bolt material wasnt. Broke off further into the block).
I ended up just having to drill out the entire bolt. I started with a small bit and got it drilled straight down the center. I just kept stepping up in drill bit sizes until it was almost at the threads, then I used a tap to clean out the remaining bolt material from the threads. This worked perfectly -- I didn't even need to use a helicoil -- the threads were perfect.
The hard part is just getting drilled past that broken off EZ-out. If you have a dremel with cutoff wheels, keep sharpening the drill bits by hand -- I had to do this countless times, but it eventually cut through.
Hope you get it out. When you do get it out, go buy a grade-8 replacement from the hardware store. That's what I've been using. 3/8-16 x 4" for the long ones, and 3/8-16 x 2" for the shorter ones. Of course, you'll need the stud on the driver's side middle bolt for the AIR pump bracket if you still use it.
Last edited by Alex94TAGT; 07-08-2005 at 01:24 PM.
07-08-2005, 03:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Alex94TAGT
Jninan -- The EXACT same thing happened to me last summer. Somehow the threads in the block got damaged, and the bolt would not come out. It finally snapped at about 60lbs-ft of force, and that tension was still on the half stuck in the block.
I also snapped a bolt extractor in it. It didn't even come close to the force I needed to remove the bolt. I was also using a torch to heat things up, as well as the PB Blaster. (Deja vu?).
I also tried welding on a nut to the end of it several times, which is a great idea, but the bolt itself just twisted off a few millimeters after the new welds. (The weld was strong enough for the force, but the bolt material wasnt. Broke off further into the block).
I ended up just having to drill out the entire bolt. I started with a small bit and got it drilled straight down the center. I just kept stepping up in drill bit sizes until it was almost at the threads, then I used a tap to clean out the remaining bolt material from the threads. This worked perfectly -- I didn't even need to use a helicoil -- the threads were perfect.
The hard part is just getting drilled past that broken off EZ-out. If you have a dremel with cutoff wheels, keep sharpening the drill bits by hand -- I had to do this countless times, but it eventually cut through.
Hope you get it out. When you do get it out, go buy a grade-8 replacement from the hardware store. That's what I've been using. 3/8-16 x 4" for the long ones, and 3/8-16 x 2" for the shorter ones. Of course, you'll need the stud on the driver's side middle bolt for the AIR pump bracket if you still use it.
I also snapped a bolt extractor in it. It didn't even come close to the force I needed to remove the bolt. I was also using a torch to heat things up, as well as the PB Blaster. (Deja vu?).
I also tried welding on a nut to the end of it several times, which is a great idea, but the bolt itself just twisted off a few millimeters after the new welds. (The weld was strong enough for the force, but the bolt material wasnt. Broke off further into the block).
I ended up just having to drill out the entire bolt. I started with a small bit and got it drilled straight down the center. I just kept stepping up in drill bit sizes until it was almost at the threads, then I used a tap to clean out the remaining bolt material from the threads. This worked perfectly -- I didn't even need to use a helicoil -- the threads were perfect.
The hard part is just getting drilled past that broken off EZ-out. If you have a dremel with cutoff wheels, keep sharpening the drill bits by hand -- I had to do this countless times, but it eventually cut through.
Hope you get it out. When you do get it out, go buy a grade-8 replacement from the hardware store. That's what I've been using. 3/8-16 x 4" for the long ones, and 3/8-16 x 2" for the shorter ones. Of course, you'll need the stud on the driver's side middle bolt for the AIR pump bracket if you still use it.
Thanks a lot for the advice...we pretty much figured thats what we'd have to do after all the failed attempts through all the other methods. The problem is none of his drill bits were even cutting the surface of this bolt. But I guess we could try sharpening the bits with the dremel like you suggested. This bolt has just been such a pain in the ***, that we can't even work on it long without getting extremely frustrated and wanting to leave
But it has to come out so we'll keep trying until the thing comes out. I am going to mount this damn bolt on my wall as a reminder 
07-11-2005, 11:29 PM
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Well guys, its been a few more days since I last posted about this pain in the @ss problem. Well guess what, it still is a problem My friend/mechanic grinded the bolt flush with the engine block, since he did this we figured the ez-out we broke off in the bolt was gone. Well guess again, every drill bit we try to drill the bolt in with is just getting dulled out and not even scratching the surface of it. So it seems as if the only thing that will even cut this bolt is stone from a dremel bit. So tomorrow we are planning to grab several cone shaped dremel bits. Then we're going to grind inward on the bolt and try to force a drill bit to catch on the bolt. This is the next step in the on going story of broken bolt. If this doesn't work I will take a match and cut a fuel line and let the rest work itself out. 
Anyways, I am hoping tomorrow will be the last day this bolt is there. Wish us luck
My friend/mechanic grinded the bolt flush with the engine block, since he did this we figured the ez-out we broke off in the bolt was gone. Well guess again, every drill bit we try to drill the bolt in with is just getting dulled out and not even scratching the surface of it. So it seems as if the only thing that will even cut this bolt is stone from a dremel bit. So tomorrow we are planning to grab several cone shaped dremel bits. Then we're going to grind inward on the bolt and try to force a drill bit to catch on the bolt. This is the next step in the on going story of broken bolt. If this doesn't work I will take a match and cut a fuel line and let the rest work itself out. Anyways, I am hoping tomorrow will be the last day this bolt is there. Wish us luck 