Help! ive rounded a bolt off!

Anonymous · June 4, 2004, 15:28

was just undoing the 4 bolts on the manifold heatshield, came to the last one which was a bit stuck, so bit more effort = rounded the b&st&rd off!! what do i do now??? s:x :x s:x s:x :x s:x

markiii · June 4, 2004, 15:36

oh dear.

which one?

Anonymous · June 4, 2004, 15:39

bottom left.

would have to be the most difficukt one to get to wouldnt it! s:? :? s:?

Comer · June 4, 2004, 15:40

Quote from: "Tomr2"was just undoing the 4 bolts on the manifold heatshield, came to the last one which was a bit stuck, so bit more effort = rounded the b&st&rd off!! what do i do now??? s:x :x s:x s:x :x s:x

Don't mention those bl**dy bolts (shudder). I did exactly the same thing to the bottom left bolt. I tried everyting from WD40 to smaller sockets. In the end Markiii kindly used his Dremel with the intention of cutting the head off the bolt and then I was planning to use 3 new bolts.

Halfway through cutting it the head seemed to be jutting out a bit further from the heatshield so I had another go with the socket and it worked!!!

It doesn't help you much but you might want to go down the same route for using 3 bolts and possibly drill the other out at a later date if you gut the pre cats.

Good luck

markiii · June 4, 2004, 15:42

that will be the second one of those then s:-( :-( s:-(

depending on how badly mullered it is my first port of call would be a set of mole grips.

if liek comers it's too badly rounded, I'd suggest cutting a slot in it with a dremel and using a screwdriver/or file some straight edges that teh mole grips can get hold of. either way access is easier if you drop teh rear nappy and get at it from underneath.

good luck

Anonymous · June 4, 2004, 15:46

its the bottom left on mine too!! little c**t s:x :x s:x the heads completely rounded off so dont think just mole grips would do it. (unless your the incredible hulk..)

was just doing a bit of prep work, making sure all the bolts will come out easy for when i come to gut the cats.

might just cut the head off as i dont mind using just the 3 bolts.

might try your idea first tho mark, cheers

Anonymous · June 4, 2004, 15:52

Quote from: "Tomr2"little c**t s:x :x s:x

Shouldnt laugh, but had to at that endearing term you used!

markiii · June 4, 2004, 15:56

Quote from: "Tomr2"its the bottom left on mine too!! little c**t s:x :x s:x the heads completely rounded off so dont think just mole grips would do it. (unless your the incredible hulk..)

was just doing a bit of prep work, making sure all the bolts will come out easy for when i come to gut the cats.

might just cut the head off as i dont mind using just the 3 bolts.

might try your idea first tho mark, cheers

If your going to be talking the manifold off to gut the cats the one of a multitude of easy out devices could be used to remove the shaft later on, if you cut teh head off for the moment.

Cue Grant, who knows all abnout thsi stuff :-) :-) :-)

GSB · June 4, 2004, 16:34

Quote from: "markiii"Cue Grant, who knows all abnout thsi stuff :-) :-) :-)

Yup, certainly do... And he's right, they are c**ts!

But first, I have to ask, what the hell are you lot doing to round these things off? I have small pile of perfectly shaped bolt heads in my workshop, that have had enough force applied to them to literally shear the heads off, but I dont have any rounded ones...

I would guess that the wrong tool for the job is being used, get yourself a decent socket set, and it'll pretty much guarantee that the heads never round off on you.

Now as for removal... The head being rounded is a total pain in the arse, Sometimes its better just to have the thing shear off, as that way at least its undone! My preffered solution would be to get a pair of molegrips on it, but dont be shy, set them to F'in tight mode and really squeeze them on there! If you can crack the bolt loose, then so be it, but if not just shear it off. Remember, its just as easy to shear a bolt off by turning it in either direction.

Once its off, then its fairly easy to drill and retap the hole once the manifolds out. I found that just by drilling through with the right sized drill in one hit, the hole could be re-tapped to accept a standard sized bolt. That would indicate to me that once siezed, these bolts are going nowhere.

Now, everybody repeat after me...

"Always break a stubborn bolt using a tool that grips the entire head on all sides, and pulls from 90 degrees to the thread"

Anonymous · June 4, 2004, 23:08

really cant be bothered with all the 'drilling out' ect stuff, 3 bolts will hold my heatshield on fine.

the bolts are corroded and rusted to hell, so thats propbably why it rounded off and tbh, i didnt even apply that much force to try to turn it!

i started off with a socket but because it was quite hard to get to (and my back started to complain!) i just reached for the ol' 12mm spanner.