Date:         Sun, 13 Jul 1997 13:20:34 -0500 (CDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Tim Marciniak <tmarcini@execpc.com>
Subject:      Screw extractors any good? 

Does anyone have experience with screw/bolt extractors?  Do they work?  Are
they brittle, do they break or crack leaving a half  broken extractor
inside the already broken bolt.

I'm currently at a standstill with a small project on the van--replacing a
ground wire that is fastened to the engine block and goes to the ignition
coil ground. This ground wire is directly under the air conditioner
compressor.  My first step was to loosen up the 8mm hex head allen bolts
that bolt the compressor to the mounting bracket so that I could swing the
compressor slightly out of the way and access the area under the compressor
to get at the ground bolt.  My first look at these allen bolts I see that
they have already been turned in the past cause the holes for the allen
wrench look somewhat rounded.  Well I am able to loosen up the back allen
bolt but no way can I get the 8mm allen wrench to really grab the front
allen bolt because the hole is already pretty well rounded.  Next step is I
take a 3/8 inch allen wrench and crudely grind it down to about a 9mm hex
allen wrench.  I hammer this into the front allen bolt and as I torque it
to loosen up this bolt I just round out the whole further.  I was able to
torque this quite a bit but this bolt is really stuck.  I can't get vice
grips on this allen head either cause their just isnt enough room to grab
the head of this bolt.  There is however probably enough room to drill into
this bolt and insert a srew extractor which may be my next step.

If any body has any ideas I sure would like to hear them.

Tim Marciniak
90 Multivan