So my car has about 120k on it, and has clearly seen at least a few upstate NY winters ( almost every fastener under the hood is covered in rust). I have been going through and very carefully trying to remove rusted bolts and replace them with some fresh hardware, but I have been having huge problems snapping bolts off ( I have tried everything. Heat, blunt force hits, low impact settings, high impact settings, etc), with no success. Most of the bolts that have snapped are on the front fascia of the car ( headlight mount, coolant overflow mount, radiator brackets etc.).

To make a long story short, I am wondering what techniques guys are using when they have to drill out the factory holes and run into what I have. I have noticed since mitsu used that cheap weld a nut on the backside of sheet metal technique for most of the threads, I have actually knocked the nut off the backside of the holes in a few spots while I was drilling them out, leaving me with basically a gaping hole in the sheet metal. I can fabricate custom aluminum mounts if I need to, but I am wondering if there is a more convenient alternative. I will post some pics to better describe this if I can. Thanks!

 

Did you spray those screws/bolts with penetrating oil beforehand? If not, I would definitely try spraying all of them with oil a few times before trying to loosen them. Not sure what to tell you about the broken ones

 

are you using an impact to remove them all?

 

No way, I broke one off with an impact gun, then I gave them all a PB blaster bath. Like I said I have tried everything, heat, blunt force on the heads to free them up, the ol tighten a half turn and then back them out trick, nothing. I am just left to try and figure out how to deal with the aftermath of a bunch of punched out holes, I might just have to cut the front clip off clean, fix my issues, and then weld it back on, who knows.

 

Buy your self a good set of easy outs. Typically Snap On/Matco guys ect have good sets. Just drill a hole as big as you can in the center of the broken bolt, tap easy out in, and start turning counterclockwise wise. Pretty easy, may take a few tries but works well and is easy to use.

 

Damn that sucks that the car is rusty like that..

 

Its not so much the car, just every fastener under the hood. It won't suck when I'm done with it.

 

An old muscle trick was to mix ATF and acetone in a 1:1 ratio and spray it on the bolts. Guy did a test on it and he was able to break bolts loose with 150lbs less torque than with the pb blaster. I used it on the exhaust spring bolt when mine was rusted in and it worked pretty good. You just have to make sure to keep mixing the solution as it tends to separate rather quickly.
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/a...others-766271/

 

Working on pics....

 

had that issue yesterday.. the threaded stud for the battery tray broke off cause the nut was so rusted. Even with tons of pb blaster and taking my time..

 

I wouldn't use an easy out on rusted bolts, more than likely you'll break them off and then be stuck removing a very hard metal easy out too.

For drilling get a set of masonry bits. They're carbide tipped and will slice through the bolts. Also look for a can of kroil. It's expensive but works much better than pb blaster.

 

Get a breaker bar with the right size socket. Put it on the bolt or nut and take a hammer and tap the breaker bar while putting pressure on the socket. Slowly increase the amount while tapping. This will break loose the rust just enough to get more PB or whatever down in there. Once it turns a little if it still feels like it is tough turn the opposite way just a little and work it back and forth. This works great for me.

 

I used to live in upstate NY and know what you're dealing with. You'd have better luck pissing on the bolt than using PB Blaster. Get your self some Kroil. They have been running a Google deal for a while http://www.kanolabs.com/google/
I have never broke a bolt off when using this stuff. If it's really bad spray the bolt the night before and then again in the morning of the work. I am always surprised how well this stuff works.

 

Dude what did you do with that battery stud, I have one nut that came clean off, the other was so corroded that it actually started spinning the stud. So now what the hell do I do? Does that stud come out of the wheel well? Hahahah I'm In deep now!!!!

 

Good to know! I use this stuff on the ford 5.4 tritons to get the spark plugs out. Works wonderfully!