Big thanks to the previous owner of my MY99 STI-V, he's rounded off the bolts that hold the STi banks on, cheers for that

Any ideas out there in the Scoob world, on how I get the damned things off? - as I cannot remove the bolt, help me as I wanted to put my new driving lights in tonight

Gutted is not the word!

 

can u get a set of needle nose pliars on it?

If not, carefull drill the head off.....

 

get hold of a stud extractor from engineering tool supplier. (shouldn't cost very much) drill hole in bolt and use extractor to remove. hope it helps....ken

 

never used one my self but have you tryed one of them so called 'uneversal sockets' they have a rook of small pins inside which are spring loaded and make a tight fit around a bolt head and according to the manafactrer they will work on rounded off bolts . hell of a lot easyer to use then an easy out.

 

A 'universal socket' still relies on the head of the bolt having some asymmetry - some flat edge for the pins to push against. Next time you get the chance to see one demonstrated, take a look at the bolts they test it with. There's not a rounded-off one amongst them, they've always just had bits hacked off with a saw to make them look abused.

Maybe you could file a couple of flats onto the bolts and then turn them with a pair of self-locking pliers (Mole grips)? Or hack a slot in the heads with a saw and use a flat-bladed screwdriver?

(Personally I wouldn't risk either method right next to my car's paintwork. Go for the screw extractors...)

A.

 

Mask off the surrounding bodywork, using a dremmel or similar 'hobby drill', cut a slot into the head (use grinding wheel), then use BIG screw driver with 'mole' grips attached for leverage...push like billio and turn for instant relief

Good luck.

 

Cheers for the responses guys

Am gonna have a proper look tonight, ran out of time and patience last night

Tried the long nose pliers but couldnt remove the bolts, methinks they are corroded on, either going to use an Impact driver tonight, or a good point from Ken / Andy and use some screw extractors, if that fails I'll have to resort to drilling the head off and taking it from there, hopefully should get my lights on later.......


[Edited by TBMeech - 7/11/2002 11:31:49 AM]

 

An impact driver is a cool piece of kit, but a bit violent for this sort of job. You don't want to bend anything. In any case, it still needs something to grip hold of, and if the bolts are rounded off I don't think it'd work

A.

 

Andy,

Good point, the idea was to brace the back of the plate via the subframe to say the tyre or to the suspension leg, then use the Impact driver, but as you say may be a little violent for it, however my extremely p1ssed off attitude last night nearly got the blanks removed by hammer and chisel until I forced myself to walk away from it lol

 

you could just try to drill it out. works a treat, start small and work up until the head just twists off with pliers.then you can just push it out the other side
takes a wee while but its nice and clean.
what are you doing with the blanks? i might like some to experiment with if you are interested.....and they are too hammered lol

 

Wrightey,

Gonna keep the STI blanks as and when I need to return the car to standard at least I'll still have them

 

What the **** are we on about removing... them screw exctractors are ****... the wont remove a fcking thing

I used some and made a right mess... Ended up buying some nice ones of the snap on man... need some new ones now... they are just square shaped thing with a sharp blade like bit down the side with a slight taper on them... either way as recommended hacksaw a slot into the head... but two blades on the hacksaw at the same time... or use a dremel...

Where are these bolts Im confused and are they nuts or bolts?? if they are nuts grind half off without damaging the thread and then chisel them off.

are you using flat drive sockets? or el cheapo grip on the corner sockets...

Can you hammer a smaller socket on?

David

 

Yeah, you know where its at.

Sounds like youve worked on the same cars I have

 

Do the STI blanks fit over the lights, if so what do they screw into ? Just curious

 

David,

The blanks where driving lights / fog lights would go on a MY99 STI-V.

There is 1 bolt (round head) which attatches the blanking plate to the subframe, the bolt goes thru the blanking plate onto a metal holder and into a nut which is welded to the holder, its quite difficult to get a saw onto this bolt without damaging the surrounding paintwork.

Could hammer a socket on but again there isnt that much room to play with and it's prob gonna end in disaster, plus I dont fancy mullering my Snap On tools to do it with!

 

Those screw extractors are crap, the better ones have a much courser shaped thread, with about 5 flutes. Ones pictured about tend to spread the bolt, or even split it.

If you can drill the head with a drill size 0.5mm bigger than the thread size, you might be able to remove the remaining stud with mole grips.

WD40 can do wonders.

Also just try using mole grips if you can get them around the head. And do em up REAL tight, they should form the head into a flat.

Paul

 

Can you get a set of mole grips on the bolt?

One of my best investments was 99p on a set of mole grips.

Also spray the bolts with WD40 and leave to soak over night
amazing how that stuff gets into the thread.

JGM

 

best investment 99p on mole grips... my best investment was spending £30 on a better pair

Hammer a snap on socket on as the snap on man will replace it.

grind the nut off on the back? then use a nut and bolt?

David

 

Snap on tool would be lovely..

me I visit the market!

Well appart from the presents I have received lately all seem to be tools..

JGM

 

Bring it round and Ill mig weld a 6mm bolt onto the end of it. Tou can then undo it with a socket.

The heat and cooling (with WD40) of the short duration weld will help break the threads hold.

That is assuming that there is enough room without melting the plastic. Not seeing the patient, I couldnt say for sure.

 

Am I correct in saying that the 'head' (if there was one), sits in a recess in the plastic cover?

 

Dunno, ive got the old bumper.

 

ok

 

Panick over all sorted now

MD - The bolt is slightly recessed, very difficult to access, in the end had to remove the whole bumper (Which aided fitting of Spots) then remove the bracket which the Blanking Plate attatches to, then eventually with the assistance of my dad (Big up to him lol!) he managed to get the bolts out, so all is finally well, will post some pics of the lights in members gallery later!

Hol - Thanks for the offer

 

Hey, dads, you cant beat them for help. My old man save me a £60 plumbing bill this week, all for the cost of a phone call.

 

Like the man says, screw extractors - like these:



A screw extractor has a tapered, left handed thread with sharp edges, so as you turn it anticlockwise it bites into the screw or bolt you're trying to remove. Once it's well stuck into the bolt, further turning will unscrew the bolt from the car. You just need to drill a smallish hole in the head of the bolt first.

You'll need a tap wrench to hold the screw extractor too - pliers probably won't quite do the job.

Andy.

(Edited to add that I got mine from somewhere like B&Q - they're not too hard to find once you know what you're looking for)


[Edited by AndyC_772 - 7/10/2002 8:00:42 PM]