I've been slowly working on my 88 Camaro SC, it's sadly a perfect example of a neglected Midwest rust bucket, but I absolutely refuse to let that stop this car from being something more. It has a 305tbi with the wc T-5, and my next project is a whole new clutch kit, it's having issues with the t/o bearing so I'm gonna do it all at once, because this car is seriously neglected and abused from the previous owners.
There's been many broken bolts one the suspension and just about everywhere. So it has this one one the transmission crossmember, and I want to take care of it right while I'm doing the clutch. I'm just not sure how to go about doing this one the right way.

Here's the broken bolt in question. I've no exp dealing with these bolts so I'm not exactly sure what the bolt is threading into. Will I need to attack it from inside the car, going under the interior carper and floorboards? it's pretty corroded and rusted into a solid piece at this point. You can see the dot where i hit it with a punch and put a drill to it just to get a feel for how hard the bolt material is, and I'm thinking it's a hardened grade 8.8


Now this bolt circled in green I'm 99% sure is just some kinda body bolt that the p/o ran into the crossmember to compensate for the broken one, but I think it's all just for looks honestly.



It's been an endless fight with this car and every single thing that has been removed or replaced in the past has been put back together with a bunch of mismatched hardware/bolts, or it's just downright been missing bolts or in this case they've been broken. It's been hell but I'm not giving up on it.
I don't think it makes any difference but I have replaced the trans mount and torque arm bushing with poly.

So any advice, tips, tricks, pointers anyone can offer, I'm open to it all and appreciate any input.

Also this is my first third gen and manual trans, but I'm pretty sure the other bolts in the crossmember should at least have washers on them, correct? None of it looks right imo.

 

I agree that the "third bolt" is some hack, that someone did as a band-aid to the broken bolt.

You've got a couple options there...iDK if you have the skills, tools or resources to do any of these options, but here are the options....that will work:
NOTE: spraying some elixir on the broken bolt and fiddle-fking with it isn't going to get it out. Praying won't do it. Waiting, won't do it....
Anyway, First get that x-member off there and out of the way. Then, here is the path that I would pursue, in the order that I would attack it....

1. Weld a pile (bead) on the broken off bolt being careful not to let the bead/pile get into the surrounding metal. Build up the pile until it's protruding from the hole and the surrounding metal, then weld a nut onto the pile....thread that som-bee right on out of there.

OR

2. Drill it out. Try to preserve the threads. Don't use an easy-out...if that dia bolt broke off due to rust, an easy-out that is 1/2 the dia of the bolt ain't gonna get it out either. It'll brake off and then you got tool steel in there to deal with. Center punch it. Drill with a SMALL bit. If the hole isn't centered, try to center it on the next-bigger drill bit size by starting into the first hole, at an angle, then "steering" the bigger drill bit as it gets a more centered, solid "bite" into the old, smaller hole. If you're REALLY good, you can drill until you juuuust start to kiss the threads, then pull the bolt's threads out w/an easy out....OR....clean the bolt's threads out of the female (nut) w/a tap. If that goes to ****, by drilling off center, or whatever, you can drill to the next bolt size bigger, tap it, and use a bigger bolt. That's hack, though. It works, but it would irritate me and using a different wrench/socket size for the one bolt would **** me off.

OR

3. Cut a square/rectangle...whatever shape fits the location and your tools best, cut a section of that tin/"Frame rail" out that includes the female threaded component (a nut welded to the inside of the boxed "frame" section"). Get some tin that is the same gauge/thickness, Cut it to match the shape of the piece you cut out of the "frame", drill a hole in it (in the appropriate location -use the cut-out part as a pattern, tack weld a same-threaded nut to it, weld it back into the section that you cut out, grind smooth, paint.



I don't recall if those x-member bolts have washers....I don't think that they do, just the flange hex head.

ALL future rusted parts that you deal with.....USE HEAT. HEAT IT. Heat the f'n WEE out of it. Then take it apart. If it won't go.....HEAT IT MORE. Heat works, and it works RIGHT NOW. Not in 4 hours....not in a week (of "soaking" w/elixirs), it works RIGHT NOW. Heat the **** out of what ever fastener you're fighting with and then THREAD IT RIGHT APART. (2nd pic down).

 

No, you don't need to deal w it in from inside the car. I had this issue. You can drill out the broken bolt and try and tap it from under the car. You could get a heli-coil kit and go that route also. I needed to add more nuts/bolts as well as replace one that was broken so i got creative.

You can cut a 2inx2in piece of 1/8-1/4 in steel and drill a hole slightly larger than your x member bolts. Weld an appropriate nut onto the plate centered over the hole. Remove the captive nut/w the broken bolt from the frame. Then drill a1/3 in hole on each side of the hole where the nut was. Use a old coat hangar/bailing wire taped to the nut/plate combo to fish the nut plate combo through the large oval holes in the frame. Locate the nut plate combo where the old nut was and weld it in place using the 2 1/3 in holes you drilled. Make sure you put it in the right spot!!! The heat from the welding will release the wire from the tape. Smooth out your plug weld and paint it.

by doing this your not really heating up the floor much because the plug welds are in the frame. The majority of the welding is out of the car.

obviously drilling and tapping or a heli coil is easier. The captive nuts in the frame are not the best and can be a headache. I did this years ago and it held up great.

 

Problem with all that is, that's a nut made of some REAL SOFT material, captivated in a little sheet metal cage. It's square, and only JUST BARELY bigger than the bolt. Drilling it out enough to Heli-Coil would leave PAPER THIN metal holding it together. In fact, one of the ways they often fail, is to split, from over-tightening, even BEFORE they're made any thinner by drilling.

Best plan is to pop the seat out and pull the carpet back, use about a 1½" or 2" hole saw in the floor pan right above it, do away with all that crap, and tack-weld a REAL nut on in its place. Then just pop a little plastic hole plug in the hole.

 

I've been through exactly this issue. It's a PIA. What I did was drill it out completely. It was to far gone. Drilled out both holes on the left side. the entire fastener until I had two nice clean holes. I then took a piece of steel plate around 1/8 to 1/4" thick. Can't remember because I did this in the 90's. The plate was just a bit narrower than the frame rail. I took two grade 9 bolts and cut the heads off and welded them to the plate at the width of those two bolt holes and drilled a small hole at the end of the plate that I could fit a coat hangar into. I then slipped the plate into the frame just forward of the mount. There's an opening there, and used the coat hangar to pull the plate into the frame rail and have the now studs, drop through the two holes. Worked like a charm. Nuts and lock washers. I've had the cross member on and off a few times over the years. It sounds like a lot but really wasn't that bad and I've had this car like that for damn near 30 years and did it on jack stands in my garage. The white arrow points at the hole where I slid the plate into.

 

Had the same issue. Tried an easy-out, which didn't work. Ended up having to drill it out, and went through several bits in the process.

You'll want to use oil and go slow, and it may still be a challenge. My cordless drill couldn't hack it, and had to get a higher-amperage corded make any headway.