I'm trying to change a water pump on an '90 camaro with a 2.8. It has an assload of torx bolts around the pump body, and the splines in one of them stripped. The head is rounded, so I couldn't get a grip on it with any type of pliers. I broke out the angle grinder and chopped it's head off. That got the pump off the engine, and I got a stud extractor thinking it would grip what was left and turn it. No luck, not enough stud to grab. That thing must be freaking welded in the block! I can't turn it with chanellocks either. One of my friends suggested a pipe wrench, and I haven't tried that yet. The only option I can see after that is to take the front cover off the engine to expose more of the stud. I REALLY don't want to do that because it's a pain in the ***. Has enybody else had this problem? I've been working on it for over a week now, and we're both getting kind of frustrated. He thinks I'm going to leave his car in a pile of parts or something. Will it leak if I just put the new pump on without that bolt?

 

did you try a pair of vise-grips? They work great for **** like this. I dont see why the extractor wont work. You just drill (pilot hole)into the bolt and put in the tap...the take 'er outta there.

 

I haven't tried the EZ Out. I have a stud extractor that fit over the stud and has a disk that turns and grips it. The EZ Outs I tried just stripped the tap off. It's like the bolt is make of harder metal than the tap and it can't bite into it. The tool I have can't grip it because there isn't enough of the stud sticking up. I tried a pair of vise grips, but it wasn't my good pair. I had left those at the house. I'll try that next time I go over to his house.