I neeed your opinion

[jeffnoel]

Some of you may have read about me breaking a motor mount bolt off in the block, then to make things worse I snapped the tip of an easy-out off in the broken bolt. Well I've got probably 10 hrs and $30 in drill bits trying to drill through the easy-out without much progress. Today I tried using a dremel and my die-grinder and got no where. Oh and by the way the engine (302) is still in the car.

So here's what I'm thinking, the broken bolt is on the passenger side and since that mount basically keeps the motor from lifting I was thinking of just saying the #ell with it and putting a torque strap on that side until I buy a new stroker shortblock next spring.

What do you think, this car isn't a DD and when and if I get it completed and running again would only see around 500 miles a year or so. Maybe a nice pretty chrome chain to go with the rest of the bling?

 

[2muchtime]

well if your getting a new motor in 6 mos and the old 1 only see's 250 miles
i dont see a problem as long as you always have the strap tight which makes it feel like a solid motor mount... i definately would'nt go racing, but i would go cruisin..
im not saying this is a good idea but under the circumstances and plans
you have, its probably the best idea out there.
welding the mount to the block would work to, and if you welded it right, you could probably get the mount back that your going to need with some grinding and drilling..
im pretty sure its called a carbide steel drill bit which is the only bit that will drill through an easy out but even that is not without complication and time. (the name may not be correct) but there is one out there that will do the job. bieng the motor is in the car and you would be working upside down
also makes it 3 times harder to do rather that flipping it upside down on an engine stand to apply the correct pressure and have the hole centered.

 

[Wart]

The broken bolts on the PAssenger side? THat's the compression side. Strapping that side will only make the condition worse.

Don't hammer the car in reverse.

Long as the second bolt is secure you shouldn't have a problem, if the mount slips it will move into the block. It shouldn't move so far as to cause any major misalignment. Like fan into radiator.

Give up on drilling the easy-out. Easy-outs, at least the quality ones, are extreamly hard. (No kidding, right?) Could tell about easy out/tap extractors but that would start a rant about virturally useless tools.

About the only way to get an easy out out is with an EDM.

Unless your absolutely set on getting another bolt in I would give it up, that pooch has been pretty well screwed. You may get lucky and have the easy out fall out.

Good luck.

 

[jeffnoel]

I thought the pass side was the side that would lift under power? No reason to hammer it in reverse. Donj't need to worry about fan and rad issues since I'm running an electric fan.

What is an EDM?

 

[CanadianCobra]

EDM = Electric Discharge Machine. Think of it as reverse welding. Instead of the arc adding material in welding, the "arc" of EDM removes tiny pieces of material. EDM requires submerging the piece being work on under an electrolyte solution. Hence, it ain't going happen with an engine together, and its probably too expensive to be worth it in your case. Time to get a new block.

As MadMark pointed out, the Easy-Out is hard... actually hardened tool steel. So your drills are useless as you found out. You can try the carbide drill, but I'm gonna guess that the "carbide" drill you find at the hardware store are actually carbide coated on high-speed steel, so you'll just end up wearing off the coating. You can try to find a solid carbide drill, but it'll cost more $$ and remember that the carbide is more brittle than steel so don't shock/slam it. And technically carbide should be spun 3x faster than HSS, but whatever.

Try to heat up the Easy-Out directly with a torch. Metal has to expand, and if it can't expand in diameter because its trapped, it will expand in length. The Easy-Out should cool and shrink in the new longer, smaller diameter shape. Hopefully enough to turn the bastard. Or try it a couple of times.

Another thing I've heard is to try to weld a rod to the end of the Easy-Off, that way you turn the rod and the Easy-Rod turns too. Be carefull not to weld the rod to the block. I've heard of making a "washer" that doesn't weld and put it around the Easy-Out to protect the piece you don't want to weld.

Hopefully this helps out in some way. But I don't think you can do anything while the engine is in the car.

 

[LILCBRA]

My 2 cents depends on how big of an easy out you tried to use. If you still have enough area of the bolt you may want to try using a center punch and hammer. Try to hammer the punch into the bolt in the direction you would turn the wrench. Again, heat may help the process. It also depends on why your bolt was stuck enough to break off. If it was cross threaded, your basically screwed. Doing this in the car will suck, so if none of these ideas work for you, and it is on the passenger side, and you are swapping engines soon, don't worry too much about it. If there is enough of the bolt sticking out to locate the mount for the one hole, you still have the other hole to bolt the mount to the block, and the majority of the time the engine will want to push against this side, so there should not be any problems with it for the time you will be driving it.

 

[jeffnoel]

None of the bolt is sticking out now. When it first broke it was flush with the block after drilling and everything it's probably about 1/4" below the surface of the block. No way a punch and hammer will work from under the car.