Broken Bolt

[Bazza]

ok, I'm a bit stuck now. I've been drilling it out, and I've done a better job than I expected of trying to keep the hole central. I've been increasing drill bit sizes as I've gone, and have worked my way up to a 4.5mm bit. I'm finding it difficult to make progress though, feeling like not that much is happening now in the way of cutting. I'm using some HSS bits, nothing expensive, just something out of Maplin.

I've got far enough for part of the top of the bolt to come away, though the rest is still stuck.

I'm loathe to keep drilling because I feel it would be easy now for me to start drilling away the sides of the hole in the bodywork without me realising it.

What should I do next ? Should I try putting a tap through it ? If so, what size ?

And yes, I do feel like an idiot for having to ask so many questions about this

keep going until you get to 5.5 mm then use a 6mm tap

that way you can use a same size bolt that came out ( get it straight this time :D )

make sure there is nothing that doesnt need drilling underneath first though

[Steviewevie]

Thanks Bazza.

make sure there is nothing that doesnt need drilling underneath first though

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand what you mean by that bit, please could you clarify ?

[sparkystav]

Make sure your not gonna go through into something you shouldnt is what he means

[Steviewevie]

ok lol that's what I'm worried about too ! How do I know what's underneath though ? :duh: Actually from what I can make out, I didn't think there was anything critical underneath, and I will try not to go down more than I need to.

[sparkystav]

Do you have a pic of this offending Screw?

[Bazza]

well the screws that hold the radiator clamps on, have got the aircon radiator underneath

if you slip with the drill it goes straight down and peirces the radiator

and yes i did

if its the hole on the inner wing you will be ok , its empty under there :D

[Steviewevie]

Thanks Bazza. Yeah, it's the inner wing, and I didn't think there was anything nearby that would be a problem. Stav - it's the hole on the opposite side of the car (driver's side) to the one that holds the fuse box down. It's just an empty hole originally.

[sparkystav]

Ah i know which one, was tight on mine as well.

I ran a tap through before putting the bolt in, just to clean it up.

Stav

[Steviewevie]

With hindsight that's exactly what I should have done too Stav. Mine was very tight and I tried putting the old bolt from the other side in and out of it a couple of times to clean it up, but then I just put the new bolt and bracket it. It probably would have been ok without the extra strain of the strut pushing a bit on it.

[Steviewevie]

Yay, I did it ! All sorted ! :D

I found out why it was so difficult, as I posted in Parthiban's thread on the IS200 forum, my drill bits were rubbish (even though they were supposedly HSS ones) ! That explains why I was finding it so difficult to drill out the bolt. Used some different (Kamasa) drill bits and it was like the difference between night and day, got up to a 5mm bit and the rest of the old bolt just dropped out of the hole.

Re-tapped it with a 6mm tap, no problem, and installed the bracket with a new bolt.

Bonnet struts now finally installed ! Thanks very very much to everyone for their suggestions and help :D

[Parthiban]

Said it in the other thread but will say it again, nice job mate :D

[sparkystav]

excellent news mate,

[Cous3]

Nice one Steve, glad you got it sorted mate.

So you reversed the struts as well.......Did this cure the rubbing problem you guys with earlier cars were having?

Keith

[Steviewevie]

Thanks guys.

Yep Keith, I actually didn't even bother to attach the struts the "right way" up, I installed them "upside-down" (though to be fair the instructions to say it doesn't really make any difference) and I had no problem.

Tonight I had an email from another member of the Group Buy who has also found an interference problem, and just like I guessed, he also has an early (pre-2001) car with the different design of ABS actuator.

I have passed on his photos to Mike Figaro (i.e. FIGS, the designer of the strut kits) for his info.

My struts are working very nicely and I am very happy with them !