September in SoCal is often one of our two most miserable months, and I
never count on doing outdoor daytime activities this time of year. This
summer has been the most comfortable I can ever recall, and this weekend was
no exception. The high was only 74 degrees F, and a cool Spring breeze sprung
up to make an absolutely splendid day.
Over this weekend I pitched into cleaning up the old 235 in preparation
for painting and reassembly. Among the chores was chasing some of the threads
in the castings with a tap. I like this kind of work. You really get a sense
of progress as the surfaces come clean and the new treaded fasteners turn
easily in their holes.
Some of these hole were filled with broken bolts. My old drill set seemed
fine for wood and plastic, but proved hopeless on these steel bolt remnants
so a new set of Vermont American "Titanium" drill bits was purchased to
replace the old ones that I suspect were made of something like silly putty.
Several folks had recommended "Cobalt" drills, but the place I was shopping
in sold these individually, not as a set, so I settled for the Titanium ones.
These new drills worked a treat on the small 1/4" stuff, and when I came
to the last hole, I thought I was home free. That last hole proved to be more
than a match for me this Sunday, however. The hole is 5/16 course, one of the
four large fasteners that hold the oil pan in place. The broken bolt is
forward on the cam side. The motor is mounted on a stand, and is rotated
belly up so the pan area is easy to get at.
This particular bolt is broken off about 1/4" into the hole, and sheared
so steeply that it is impossible to get a drill started. I have a center
punch that had worked well with the other bolts but wouldn't touch this. I
tried drilling in at an angle, but the drill just did not find a purchase.
Someone else had tried drilling out the bolt in the past and had got mostly
the cast iron that the bolt threaded into. The thing is a real buggered up
mess and had been hidden by a dab of black silicone.
Has anybody got any suggestions on what to do with it now? This is the
last broken bolt in the motor, and when it's out we can move on to other
things.
Paul O'Neil, Hudson29@aol.com
1951 Chevrolet 3600 Pickup Project, See it at:
The Poor Man's Advanced Design Tech Tips Page
http://home.earthlink.net/~conntest47/
Fullerton, California USA
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