Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

[sutor623]

Started the morning off replacing my freshly built carbs/fuel pumps on my Merc and stripped out the carb housing. Anyway, I just bought a 4hp 1969 Evinrude and it runs great. Only issue is that the lower cylinder was getting hot. Being a saltwater motor, I knew that the water passages were blocked. I loosened up the powerhead so that I could get the air gun into the cylinderhead bolts so as not to snap them with a wrench, but look at this crap......

Cylinders look great though!!! I was thinking about dremeling a slot into the bolt and then putting the compressor onto that. Any other ideas? Ive heard about welding a bolt head onto the remaining piece, but I dont think there is enough there and dont want to get the cylinder with the torch.......

 

[Jim311]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

Drill it with a reverse rotation drill bit, or one of those easy outs?

 

[F_R]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

All in a normal day's work for us old salt water outboard mechanics. Ever drilled out a screw before? Want to learn on that one? Realize you probably won't succeed on the first one. Or maybe some more after that. Anyhow, here are a couple of do-nots:

DO NOT stick an Easy-out in there. There is no such thing, they are not easy and they won't get it out. But once you break it off in there, game over.

DO NOT try retapping the hole while there are any scraps of the old screw still in the hole. There is a high probability of jamming and breaking the tap. Result, same as the Easy-out--game over.

 

[andrewddrennon]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

almost enough there to use a stud extractor on?? or if your lucky vice grips

 

[raczekp1]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

go to repair shop to drill it ot.its thebest soution,
dont use heat to relase bolt

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

I've also head of people welding on a nut, the end of the broken stud (assuming you have a welder), then using a wrench again to remove the bolt after it has had time to soak in some penetrating oil, but a professional machine shop my be quicker, cheaper and easier in the long run.

 

[sutor623]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

Yeah I have had this happen many times before, and tried all of the above. Just hoping to hear of a different approach. I think that I am just going to get out the old drill press. I am afraid to helicoil it due to the fact that the water jacket is already very thin. I think I am going to have to tap in a slightly bigger screw. Does anyone know the torque specs of this head?

 

[adoseth]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

You should have enough room for a Helicoil, but to get it out ....I have heard stories of old timers using wax but you would have to heat the bolt up first and seeing that it is surrounded by aluminum that could be tricky as too much heat would melt the aluminum. i have extracted/drilled out many bolts in my life as i am a professional mechanic 30 years now, i would drill it out as it should be a steel bolt, not stainless steel, drill it all the way out, helicoil it, job done. PS, make sure your pilot hole is small and right down the center, then upsize drill bits from there, from the looks of that pic it cant be extracted, only drilled

 

[F_R]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

Yeah I have had this happen many times before, and tried all of the above. Just hoping to hear of a different approach. I think that I am just going to get out the old drill press. I am afraid to helicoil it due to the fact that the water jacket is already very thin. I think I am going to have to tap in a slightly bigger screw. Does anyone know the torque specs of this head?

There is plenty of material there for a Heli-coil. Actually, that won't take any more room than the next size bolt. Torque is 60-80 INCH pounds.

 

[86 century]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

You have plenty there to weld a nut on top.

Put wax under the nut cover the cly and water jackets.
Welding the nut on will not put to much heat in the block but should put enough to melt the wax.

This is what I would do
Have done this many times with great results.

 

[mark1961]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

Saltwater motor you say? Consider yourself fortunate you didnt snap more than one of those off.....

Before you go the helicoil route.....you could try drilling through it several times starting with a small pilot hole which you want as near to the centre of that bolt as possible.....use a centre punch before you start with the first drill, accuracy is paramount. Then proceed to work with progressively larger drill bits until you reach a size which is the same or SLIGHTLY smaller than the blank (unthreaded) part of the bolt, a round file can also get you closer to the mark and save the day if a little off. If you are lucky the threads will start to seperate from each other allowing you to extract the remaining part of the bolt (thread) in a coil with a pair of pliers.....the coil of thread will probably break a few times during the process but you should be able to recover it with a small pick.....if you are really lucky the whole lot will just screw out because the seperation of the threads has already done the work for you.....ive got way worse looking ones than that out using this method.

 

[bslayer]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

normally if i use the wax trick, i use a lot of heat on the material containing the bolt, you want it to expand, not the bolt. i have welded a nut onto the remaining bolt and let it soak in a penetrating oil for a bit. before trying to remove, hit it a few good licks with a hammer and then work it back and forth while using more penetrating oil. if you are going to drill it, then use a grinder and make sure that the surface is flat, so the drill bit will not want to wander down hill. snap-on makes a real handy little chisel like tool that allows you to dig the drilled bolt out without damaging the threads. good luck getting the bolt out. i have drilled bolts off center and used this tool to dig them out without damage. just because you have a broken bolt does not mean that you will have to use a heli-coil.

 

[sutor623]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

Okay well thanks for all the great tips guys. Tried the welder, and the nut snapped the rest of the bolt off flush with the surface. I am going to my neighbors to use his drill press in the morning.

 

[AlTn]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

sut...drilled one out that looked very similar, same location. on a salt 25 hp...started with a 1/8" right hand...went up a 32" at a time, then switched to a left hand bit, first time using one as I didn't know they existed until reading about them on the forum, to finish and the bolt threads came out
clean. Left hand bit requires you drill in reverse.

 

[sutor623]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

sut...drilled one out that looked very similar, same location. on a salt 25 hp...started with a 1/8" right hand...went up a 32" at a time, then switched to a left hand bit, first time using one as I didn't know they existed until reading about them on the forum, to finish and the bolt threads came out
clean. Left hand bit requires you drill in reverse.

Okay thanks! Would I need to get a left hand bit just a smidge smaller than the shaft of the bolt?

 

[bslayer]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

before i was to purchase a left-hand bit, i would drill it out with a regular bit until i could only go 1 or 2 sizes more before getting into threads. just in case the drilled hole is not exactly center.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

Here is what I have done many many times for broken/corroded fasteners in aluminum. use a bit of heat with a small butane torch (pencil tip). heat it up a fair amount. smack it with a hammer, then spray a bit of PB blaster or Kroil on it, smack it again. then go get a beer. come back about an hour later, smack it a few times then hit it with another dose of PB blaster or Kroil

come back the next day and repeat.

the initial heat will help the oil to draw in, the hammer blows will help break up the corroded bond. the repeated use of the oil will continue to wick down.

the third day, try the vise grips, if that doesnt work then weld on a nut, and back out the fastener.

if that doesnt work, then you need to start drilling by using a center punch, start with an 1/8" drill bit and go carefully. then progressively get larger. then pull the remaining threads out with the pick like discussed above.

 

[AlTn]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

smidge smaller....yes....try to center punch the exact center as best you can...plenty of cutting oil and sharp bits

 

[sutor623]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

smidge smaller....yes....try to center punch the exact center as best you can...plenty of cutting oil and sharp bits

You got that right buddy!! Oh and Scott, thanks for the tips, but I think beer, a hammer, and my precious aluminum block don't belong in the same room together.

 

[retiredfornow]

Re: Guys, I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! Any ideas?

Here's an interesting read on removing fasteners.
http://www.spaco.org/MachineShop/StuckFasteners.html
Good luck. Heat, hammer, drill, PB and Liquid Wrench helped me. I had 9 like yours on my 60hp Evinrude. Only had to use one Helicoil.
They WILL come out, patience is the trick.