On Mon, 27 Jan 2003, at around 08:48:22 local time, Randall Young
<ryoung@navcomtech.com> wrote:
>> What would a professional mechanic have done when faced with a similar
>> situation? Would he have gone straight for the angle grinder as soon
>> as he realised the bolt was stuck (knowing that he was likely to cause
>> at least a small amount of damage to the wishbones)?
>
>>From what I've seen, most professionals being paid to work on someone else's
>car would go straight for the grinder. Might use an air powered die grinder
>instead of an angle grinder <g>
This seems to be the universal opinion. <g>
>
>> Or are there any
>> tricks of the trade he would have tried first (other than soaking the
>> thing in WD40, which I tried)? I can't believe that any half-way
>> competent mechanic would have made such a big job of this as I did, and
>> I would like to know what to do next time.
>
>IMO, WD40 is a very poor penetrating oil (it's better for other things). My
>personal favorite penetrating oil is PB Blaster, with Kroil a close second.
>I've heard that SiliKroil is better yet, but haven't tried it. And, I've no
>idea if any of these are available in the UK ...
>http://www.kanolabs.com/
Nor have I - I've certainly never come across them over here. I agree
with you that WD40 is a poor penetrating oil, but it was either than or
a bottle of 3-in-1 that has been sitting in my Mum's garage for the past
20 years.
(Incidentally, whilst I was rummaging around in her garage for other
things to try on the trunnion bolt yesterday, I came across a Hella
Halogen Headlights box, which turned out to contain the original
sealed-beam Lucas units which my father took off his 1968 Mini Traveller
when he fitted the Halogens, back in the mid-seventies. I couldn't
resist seeing if they still worked, and if they fitted the Spitfire.
The answer to both questions was yes, which is nice. <g>)
>
>For stubborn cases, PB Blaster may take a long time to work. I've soaked
>stuck fasteners for as much as a month, trying to remove them every few days
>(and applying more PB Blaster), to have them finally come loose.
Blimey! You've got a lot more patience than I have...
ATB
--
Mike
Ellie - 1963 White Herald 1200 Convertible GA125624 CV
Connie - 1968 Conifer Herald 1200 Saloon GA237511 DL
Carly - 1977 Inca Yellow Spitfire 1500 FH105671
/// triumphs@autox.team.net mailing list
/// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive
|