Hey Everyone,

I am working on a 1987, 2.8L Camaro. I was replacing the water pump and found two of the bolt's (round w/ torx bit insert) torx inserts were stripped. Well, I eventually made it worse when I couldn't break either bolt loose. All the other bolts unthreaded without any issue. So, I tried a screw extractor and broke it in the bolt. I wanted to try welding a nut to the bolt but have very little welding experience. I'm going to rent a machine at home depot but don't know what weld stick I'll need. Does anybody know what type of weld metal I would need to achieve a strong weld?

Thanks,

John

 

if there is enough clearance,you might be able to grind
the heads off the stripped bolts,remove the water pump
and deal with the stubs at that time.
About what position(9:00,10:00,etc)are the problem
bolts-i have a 2.8 fiero engine out and could have a
look at the situation

 

There are two bolts. The larger one is at about 10:00, close to the alternator. The second one (smaller) is at about 4:00-5:00, close to the power steering pump. I thought about cutting the bolt heads off and just pulling the water pump and time chain cover off. Which would allow me to get directly to the threaded portion of the bolt and spray some WD40 on it. It just makes me nervous, not knowing if I can break it loose with some vice grips. It's definitely an option that I'm willing to consider. I just figured before I take that route, I would try to weld on a nut. If that didn't work, cut the head off. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. I can cut the bolt but I could do more damage welding, since I have little to no experience. Cutting it may be the way to go. Thanks again. Like I said, any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Would much rather try and fix the problem myself, then take it to a shop.

 

Here's what I did:

cut the water pump off by cutting the area around the frozen bolt, using an air grinder, then dremel to get to the bolt. that left just part of the pump housing that surrounded the actual bolt in place. I was replacing the old pump, and there was no core charge so I didn't care about the old one. Be careful not to cut the timing chain cover behind the pump. you can get close enough to it without touching it, then simply give it some elbow grease and it'll break free.

with that exposed, cut any remaining pump body from around the bolt, leaving just the bolt exposed and a space between the head and the timing chain cover.

I used a mig welder (easiest welder around) and welded a large nut onto the head of the bolt. it was still unbelievably tight, so I had to use a 1/2 ratchet and a cheater pipe to turn it. eventually, the bolt came out and I cleaned the threads in the block with a tap, so the new bolt wouldn't be damaged or do the same thing the old one I just fought with had done.

When you remove the water pump, watch to see if the timing chain cover breaks loose from the block to any degree. Mine was to the point I wanted to replace that gasket too, and it's a good thing I took the timing chain cover off to do it. the timing chain was flopping around from all the years of heavy use by the previous owner of the truck. it was an '88 s10 with a 2.8 v6.

some of the torx bolts can't be replace with hex head bolts due to clearance, but the ones that can should be changed out, instead of bothering with the hassle of torx bolts where they can be replaced. all of the three largest torx bolts on the 2.8 water pump are in easily accessible spots, so those would be great to swap out to hex heads.

if you don't have a mig welder or don't have access to one, I'd still recommend just cutting the old aluminum water pump off, just by cutting around the bolt hole, remembering not to touch the timing chain cover behind it. it'll give you more room to work with.

 

I would definitely Weld a nut first,that would be the easiest and most logical thing to do,with you knowing how to weld and all.

 

Is it possible to grind the head off with a dribble tool then pulling the water pump off?