Date:         Fri, 17 Nov 1995 08:33:00 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Maher, Steve (SD-MS)" <SMAHER@PO2.GI.COM>
Subject:      RE: Bolt extraction (with lasers)


>When I got the engine back home and on the workbench, I turned it around to
>find another exhaust bolt broken off on the other side of the engine!  This
>one was broken off before I bought the engine, so I hadn't noticed it 
before
>I wanted to put a new bolt back in the hole.  This time I bought a set of
>Black & Decker "outs".  They're the reverse-pitch tapered style and made in
>Germany.  I've used "Easy out" brand "outs" before and have had them slip
>instead of gripping.  These B&D ones have a finer pitch and looked like
>they'd grip better.  They did grip just fine.  Well the bottom line, after
>spraying with Liquid Wrench and trying to ease the bolt out over a period 
of
>two weeks, is that THIS "OUT" BROKE OFF INSIDE THE SECOND BOLT!  It broke 
off
>so deep that I had no hope of removing it.


Been there, done that.

I've often wondered: when a bolt has been jammed so tightly into a hole
(by cross-threading, rust, wring thread or whatever) that someone was able
to put enough torque on it to break it clean off... what makes anybody
think that it can suddenly be removed by an easy-out that's one-third the
diameter of the bolt, and tempered so hard it's brittle?

Does anyone have ANY success stories involving an "easy-out" that's actually
WORKED? Or are these gadgets the mechanical equivalent of Slick-50?

Steve Maher   smaher@gi.com   '71 VW Transporter
                              '80 V6anagon soon
                              '66 Mustang Coupevertible with broken
                                 valve-cover bolt still in the head,
                                 and broken easy-out still in the bolt