Just like always, the bolt in the thermostat housing sheared off. One came off easily, while the other just broke.

So, we figure that we will drill into it and then tap it and put a smaller bolt in. Is this what we should do?


Oh this is on an 87 2.8 V6 Camaro.... and the intake manifold is off.

 

They make whats called "easy outs"

you drill a somewhat smaller hold in middle of bolt. Hammer this thing in it, and attempt to twist it out.

If that dont work, drill and re-tap.

 

Try: Ezout, or equivalent...

It's a little thinger that you screw in backwards into a hole you drill in the bolt. When it grips in the hole, it can pull it out. Ive heard of this not working. I'd wait for more advice from others on this, because I myself havn't used one before.

Drill out the entire bolt, and use Helicoil, or equvalent. See package for proper instructions.



If you do manage to get it out, tap the hole with the proper size tap (ie, the same size as the bolt that normally goes in) to clean out the rust and gunk. Do the same for the other hole. Now, learn the valuable lesson of using anti-seize

 

I've tried doing a similiar procedure once before. It's pretty tough if your inexperienced. I ended up towing my car to a machine shop and they drilled it out and put a stud in place of it. It worked great. This was on a 90 thunderbird SC, so it was really hard to drill it right.

 

i'd never use an extractor, if the bolt broke what's keeping the more brittle extractor from breaking. i'd either weld a nut on the stub and wrench it out or drill and tap it and if you screw up you can use thread inserts.

 

ede is right, I'm a machinist and have seen more then 1 EZ-out extractor broken off in a screw, once it's broken off it's a real PITA to get the screw out because it's harder than almost anything else. The same thing happened to my car and I TIG welded metal to the broken screw then a nut and used just used a wrench to twist it out. If you can get a drill lined up propery you can drill out the old screw and then peel out the old thread, if that don't work there is the Heli-coil.

 

 

I also am zero-for-forever on using an EZ-Out on such things. I don't even have any of those around any more.

I usually file or grind the remains of the bolt off flat, center-punch it as exactly at the center as possibe, then drill it with successively larger bits starting with a 1/8" or smaller and finishing with the correct size for the Heli-Coil to match the original size bolt, and then of course put in the Heli-Coil. If one is broken, I always Heli-Coil the other side too. I always put in new stainless steel bolts.