Yo Dawg, I heard you like bolts
 

Why does the PO always strip the head of at least one seat mounting bolt? I'm very tired of trying to pull the seats out of a Miata and finding that I have to weld another bolt to the top of one to get it out.

http://www.lightweightmiata.com/v8/donor/donor08.JPG

Visit a Snap On dealer. ;)

THAT'S fucking GENIOUS!!!

He's going to take the bolt out for me?

Use leverage to your advantage -- instead of trying to turn the bolt, hold the bolt stationary and turn the car in the opposite direction.

+1

planet's already turning. just park on the south pole and holt the bolt.

Chuck Norris's car doesn't move. It turns the world underneath it.

Why didn't you just get a set of stripped bolt removers? I once removed a completely round 120ft-lbs 14mm bolt with no problems with one. I recommend everyone picks up a set, you won't regret it.

I've got 50 sets of bolt/screw removers. They suck! All a bolt remover does it make a perfectly round bolt head and lots of little metal shavings. All nut removers do it make a nice round hole in the middle of a nut.

Step A: If it's a screw head bolt, drill a small hole in the center of it with a drill bit

Step 2: Insert bolt/nut remover

Finally: Give it 3 sharp blows with a hammer

Step E: Remove

Works for me every time.

You mean all it does is create an undrilltanium round hole in the middle of a nut. They're very risky to use.

Did you ever drill through the center of a broken bolt and then break a screw extractor off inside of it trying to turn it out? That's an easy way to turn your day to shit.

Matco,Snap on and I am sure a million other places have short bolt/screw removers. Use Foogers instructions with there little ones because you provide leverage via a 1/2 socket(impact socket if smart) and whatever length driver you want. I remove fasteners of various sizes with these and have no issues..

next time PM faeflora.
He will show you the magic of sawzall

i would have just grabed the locking pliers and squezed the head flat and then turned it out. still i like your idea to.

+1

I stopped using bolt/screw removers years ago and have plenty of half broken sets I've created over the years. They don't work when you really need them to, especially when you need to remove a stripped out tranny drain plug with one of those 1/2" female square holes. What snap on tool works better than welding a bolt on them:

http://www.lightweightmiata.com/geo/tranny/tranny02.JPG

I guess everyone has methods that work for them. I have places where you cant weld such as internal fuel systems. I havent had one of these break yet.. I doubt there is anything on a miata that comes close to the torque I use at work.

You using these or those cheap pencil ones.. These are more rugged than the cheap ones..

http://www.matcotools.com/ProductImages/SEXS25.jpg

I like how you welded on the washer too :)

Personally, I love when I have stuck bolts. It gives me an opportunity to exert my dominance over the car.

You do what you can when you are crawling under a car with oil dripping in your eyes.

You obviously have not tried to take out a seat that was installed 20 years ago by a gorilla. I've broken more than one socket extension on those. When someone strips it round it makes it 10x harder.

get some fucking nuts instead of all that gay ass bolt shit.

lol when my fill plug seized i just drilled and retapped the hole. No matter how much torque i put on that fucker it would not move it sucked.

You mothafuckaz need to buy anti-seize.

This is my experience. I love when I break off a hardened bit in the middle of a bolt when trying to drill it out. The damn bit is harder than the bolt itself, and that makes it twice as fun to remove. No chance to re-drill it after it breaks. Of course this process also gives me a chance to practice my throwing, cussing and angry stomping skills, when I throw the nearest tool as hard and far as I can into the back yard while cussing and jumping around like a crazy person.

Or when you try to drill out head studs, the hardened bit breaks off in the broken stud. Try again, now theres 2 broken bits in the broken stud....

Welding on bolts instead of nuts usually gives more to work with as well.

Actually I have and I take out fasteners from 6in/lbs to 5500ft lbs. I am well aware about overtorque of fasters. I am just saying that there are many methods to get fasteners out.

Slotting the heads
Filing the sides
Impact
Lubrication
Heat
Wax

I can do this all day. I am not trying to argue but its all about personal preference. Do what works for you..

And my miata will shit all over your evo because it has a larger penis.

But it's a gay Miata penis, and prefers other gay penises. Face it, a Ford Focus is more manly.

You were arguing. I did what worked for me and you jumped in and told me I was a dumb ass that should have gone to Snap On <G>. My MIG sits in the corner and is a royal pain to get out and setup for one small weld. Trust me, I didn't weld that other bolt on there because I was too lazy to get out the the bolt removers or vice grips. If there were a better way than setting my Miata on fire three times (welder, PB-Blaster and 20 year old dried out carpet) I would have used it. Simply slotting the head might work for you and the thousands of 5500ft lbs bolts that you take off at work every day but it would have never worked on this particular bolt.

You too? Do the neighbours avoid you for a couple days after as well?

OP I employ that bolt removal technique as well, "proper remover tools" are often much less reliable, not to mention fragile.

I'm just glad to see that I'm not the only one that this stupid crap happens to.

Relevance... Why do I think I have seen this comment before.

Are you easily offended because I offered a suggestion like others or that I am new to the forum. I did what everyone else did and offered up an alternative,thats it. I asked about extractors cause everytime someone pulls one out its the 3 inch pieces of crap and some people havent seen the stubby ones. So Id apologize if I was out of line but I wasnt, so I wont.

My point was to use quality tight fitting tools to begin with. Of coarse I know you know that. I was being sarcastic.

I have never had problems removing seat bolts before. Maybe it is because of my awsome Snap On sockets. (More Sarcasm)

Can you please give some more information on the stubby extractors? I've never seen them before. Linkasaurus please?

You can get them from Matco and Snap-0n for sure. The come in 10pack sizes and then the large set I posted on the last page. Like I said I have taken out some beefy bolts with them and never have an issue.

You want part # SEXS10

http://www.matcotools.com/Catalog/to...lect=&cat=2547

http://www.matcotools.com/ProductImages/sexs10.jpg

This.

My craftsman set has never let me down.

OP, why not try and upgrade to better bolts?

I have tried all of the methods listed(Ive been a machinist for 6yrs) and to be honest with you the best way I have found is to weld a Nut on to the bolt....gives a better weld and the nut is usually concentric with the bolt allowing more force to be exerted on the fastener.....and I have seen those stubby extractors explode not fun picking that shit out of your skin....Just works for me
(G)

I didn't put the bolts in there, they were the stock 20 year old bolts. Let me try this again - look at the threads on the bottom bolt vs the threads on the top bolt and tell me that any sort of normal torque (no matter what kind of wrench/bolt remover/etc) would take it out. That bitch was not coming out. I got it red hot by welding another bolt on top of it and then used a cheater bar on a 1/2" socket breaker bar to break it loose. I thought I was going to break my impact socket extension in half getting it out of there. No, there is no way anyone's craftsman, snap on, whatever was going to get that bolt out of there. Trust me, you could not have removed that bolt with anything you have, a friend has, or anything you have ever seen.

http://www.lightweightmiata.com/v8/donor/donor08.JPG

looks like rust and corrosion. maybe some anti-seize?

i am alittle confused though. did you pull out some junkyard seats or in a car that was new to you?

I bought a 1990 125K mile "beach car" with a hard top for $1200. I'm using it as a donor car to replace the ugly shell on my LS1 Miata.

Ah that explains it. I had a "beach car" once. Bought it just north of Myrtle Beach. Between the salt and humidity, like you, I had alot of seized bolts.

Eventually just got rid of the car. It was a 1987 Toyota Cressida.

Why didn't you just use an easy out? ;)

Hey Rob...why didn't you just use some PBBlaster?


Just kidding.

I think they thread title and pic are fitting, and that a lot of people have problems reading before posting.



I've had mixed success with all types of extracting solutions...not one really ever works in every situation. "Fabricating" a "new" head is usually failproof though. Whether it's welding, filing, or dremeling a slot, it always seems less time and frustration than fighting with everything else.

I have learned to soak known problem bolts in PB the night before I'm going to work on something.

I'm a PB guy but on this project of taking the car down to a shell (top is still on and so are the door panels - for now) I didn't have to soak much. That one seat bolt and one bolt on the cat converter were the only bad ones. Now it is time to do some seam welding!

Fae - Kroil is all we use in aviation. They have a half dozen versions.. We use Aero-Kroil...

http://www1.mscdirect.com/ProductImages/0025726-11.jpg

http://www1.mscdirect.com/cgi/NNSRIT...-SearchResults

There's always the BFH and one size smaller (Standard) impact socket method if you don't want to catch shit on fire. That's assuming you can get a good whack on the socket (should be able to for the ones holding the seat on with an extension).

I probably should have tried that first (easier than dragging everything out) since I have a pretty good set of impact sockets and a 5 lb sledge.

BFW>? Boyfriend's Hamster?

The hammer is my penis.

Bfp

the "F" is redundant there...