Yet another one for the Mechanic types

concealer404

Alright well...

I've reached the end of my comfort zone, which albeit isn't THAT far, since i'm no professional wrench by far.

Yesterday i was replacing the mounts on my MX6, since they were all shot, and it was getting pretty sketchy. (Was that my damn intake manifold hitting the firewall?!?!)

Did the passenger side mount and the trans side mount in a matter of 20 minutes. Cake. The transmission front mount was a different matter.

It's held to the transmission via 4 bolts. I got two off, and then sheered the next one right off into the transmission. I was too chicken to try the last one, because i wasn't real psyched about the possibility of the car not being driveable in the event i sheered the last one, too. So i tightened the other two down again and called it a day.

Sooo... What do i do?

The transmission is an aluminum case. I assume i'll have to drill and re-tap that bolt? I don't have the tools for that, sooo... How much should i expect to pay a shop to do that? Or... if it ends up being cheaper for me to just buy the tools, what should i be looking at, and what's the procedure for this?

I don't know what i'm doing at this point, because up until now, i've been pretty lucky in where i break my bolts off. Usually in a spot where i can pound them out THROUGH something.

Knucklehead

concealer404 wrote: »

i don't know what i'm doing at this point, because up until now, i've been pretty lucky in where i break my bolts off. Usually in a spot where i can pound them out through something.

lmfao!!!

nooshinjohn

I cannot say anything beyond seek a pro for this one. I have seen a DIY job such as this turn into a new transmission quickly. I do not know what the costs are but it will certainly be cheaper than replacing the transmission if you happen to drill your way through the case or crack it.

concealer404

nooshinjohn wrote: »

I cannot say anything beyond seek a pro for this one. I have seen a DIY job such as this turn into a new transmission quickly. I do not know what the costs are but it will certainly be cheaper than replacing the transmission if you happen to drill your way through the case or crack it.

Yeah, that's my worry here. I'm hoping a pro can knock it out in an hour or two. Much longer than that and it becomes more cost effective to just slap a new transmission on there, which would take me about 4 hours, max.

Thanks John.

Knucklehead wrote:

lmfao!!!

Heh, yeah... the joys of working on 20 year old crapboxes. Especially when the previous owner ignores all factory torque guidelines and just impacted everything on. I snapped i think 6 oil pan bolts when i re-sealed that. And that was a treat.

DaveHo

I'd drill it & try an ez-out first. Be sure to spray it down good with PB Blaster or something similar & let it sit for a few hours first. If that works, you won't have to re-tap the threads, if it doesn't, you're only out a few bucks for the EZ-out bit & the trans is none the worser.

-Dave

LessisNevermore

DaveHo wrote: »

I'd drill it & try an ez-out first. Be sure to spray it down good with PB Blaster or something similar & let it sit for a few hours first. If that works, you won't have to re-tap the threads, if it doesn't, you're only out a few bucks for the EZ-out bit & the trans is none the worser.

-Dave

^^^This^^^

PB Blaster is the next best thing to Kroil ($80/gallon) for penetrating oil.

Napa carries this type of screw/stud extractor. IME, I've had 100% success with these, vs. other styles that are 50/50.



Also buy a small center punch to get your drill started on center.

concealer404

I don't think i can fit a drill down there without taking the entire front end apart again. Super!

What a pain in my ****.

Lessisnevermore, thanks for the tip! I'll go out and grab one today to give it my own shot before i hand it off. I don't have a great feeling about this though, but i imagine that extractor tool is pretty cheap.

LessisNevermore

concealer404 wrote: »

I don't think i can fit a drill down there without taking the entire front end apart again. Super!

What a pain in my ****.

Lessisnevermore, thanks for the tip! I'll go out and grab one today to give it my own shot before i hand it off. I don't have a great feeling about this though, but i imagine that extractor tool is pretty cheap.

Looks like list price is about 8 bucks. Do not skimp, get a quality tool, or it will make your day much, much longer. Good luck.

Another tip, buy a couple Screw Machine length stubby drill bits. They usually have a little flatter drill point angle, and are center cut relieved. Makes drilling freehand into steel a bit easier.

Polkersince85

Old bolts into aluminum can be nasty sometimes due to corrosion.

Be sure to use a cobalt stub length drill. Find the center of the bolt and use a sharp center punch to give you a good starting hole. Sometimes a heat gun can be used to quickly heat the area around the bolt to expand the hole diameter. Use caution though. Mark your drill depth carefully using one of the other bolts as a guide.

gdb

A tiny bit of heat in on and off cycles might help things to break loose. Just don't set things on fire!:eek: (penetrant etc.)

greyford1979

LessisNevermore wrote: »

^^^This^^^

PB Blaster is the next best thing to Kroil ($80/gallon) for penetrating oil.

I always spray down bolts with PB Blaster when I'm working on my cars, especially the old truck. Love the stuff, works great!! When we put a 79 F350 front axle in my brothers truck, it was frozen with the wheels turned to one side, sprayed it down with the PB and was freed up in about an hour. And to concealer good luck, always a pain when this happens and the part is aluminum, just take your time:D

concealer404

Thanks guys!

I think i'm letting a pro do this one, though. I took another look at it and found two things:

1) I'm an idiot, and was working on a car when i was really tired and it was hot out. The part i was trying to remove doesn't even have to be removed. That was the bracket, i needed to remove the mount, which is actually on the crossmember. DUH.
2) Because of this, i can somewhat safely limp the car around as is until i can get it in the shop to a buddy of mine to get it taken care of. He said it shouldn't take him long, and he owes me a favor anyways.

But... i did go and buy that tool Duell. Thanks!

audiobliss

Sounds like one of the happier endings to a story that begins with stupidity! Glad to hear it!

LessisNevermore

concealer404 wrote: »

But... i did go and buy that tool Duell. Thanks!

You bet bud! Always glad to share when I find a kick **** tool.