I'll try that before pulling the head...

what made it worse was i started with a small hole and decided to step it up so the bit wouldn't snap off...



Dirlling the stud was easy, so if i can get the hardened junk out I should be able to start from square one again. Are left-handed drill bits common at the major stores?

I've never seen an extractor work. I've heard countless people break them off in the work though.

But seriously, left hand drill bits are awesome. Assuming you didn't already have an extractor broke off in the work :) , you just center punch the broken fastener making SURE you get punch it dead nuts center. Get out your left hand drill bit set you bought at autozone for 10 bucks. Then drill a pilot hole. Use a bit bigger than 1/8" if it's grade 5 or 8 as to not break the bit. Start drilling one size at a time, keep it square, etc. When you get to that last bit that will drill before wiping out the threads, drill it about 2/3 of the way through the fastener and then jam the bit, forcing it to dig into the fastener. It will likely hang up and either stop the drill, break the bit, or screw the fastener out. I've got ~50% success rate of it screwing the fastener out. Then your done. If not, drill out the bolt and threads completely. Then tap. Then helicoil. Now it's stronger than new because helicoils are the shit.

Sorry Sam but I think you were smoking crack that day lol. My 6pt camlocks from two years ago weren't sewn in either.

Assuming I can break the extractor bit out I shouldn't have issues doing the rest. I was able to drill a 1/8" then 3/16" hole through the stud.

I have had success with an extractor before:

http://boostedmiata.com/blown_engine...nebuild003.jpg

that's actually the one I broke today.

photoshoped

Remove head, take it to a machine shop. You've got some $$$/Time invested in this head, don't be a fucking hillybilly and attempt the fix yourself and cause more damage. Know when you've been defeated and buck up.

:giggle: Gotta laugh, thats the story of my life. I bet I have done that 3 or 4 times and still havent learned. The last time it wasnt me, but it was my part.

Were you using an extractor bit in a power drill?

not yesterday, no.

Meh, some people are handy. If it's fucked and he needs to pull it and take it to a shop to have it fixed, then what's the harm in trying what I mentioned? If it works, great. If it doesn't, he's lost nothing.

I'm also all for hammering the extractor to pieces. I doubt there is much of it in there anyway. Then left hand drilling to try and get the pieces out with the intent of heli-coiling the hole if there is even a question of it being messed up. After using about 200 helicoils at work in delrin tooling and aluminum baseplates I love them.
I have use extractors successfully. Though I have had way more luck with small cold chisels.

Any chance the stud is sticking out a little for you to dremel a slot? The abrasive wheel will cut into that hardened extractor, it'll just take forever to do right.

exactly, i might as well try breaking the bit up and going at it again. otherwise I pull the head and get it fixed at a machine shop. but in the meantime I'll slap my spare head on so i can acutally have a running car.

here's my seat...I put it on the stock rails. You can see how it's just too large. Even if I bolt it to the floor it's just not going to be ideal, so tomorrow they'll be sold.

Corbeau CR1's? Arent the A4's supposed to fit the Miata? They look very similar. Nicer in my opinion.

I searched M.net and found a few others running them...oh wellz. I have a set of fixed back seats that will be mine shortly. Already have someone picking these up today.

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_i...0001_large.jpg

shouldn't be using those harnesses with those seats anyways. You need a fixed back and 5 harness holes, anything else is useless. What fixed back seat did you end up buying?

Sorry about the extractor breaking, the first time I used one it worked, so I bought a complete set, thinking they were awesome. I've broken most of those without ever getting a stuck bolt out since.