Good suggestions regarding a mobile welder. 

However,  this would involve someone lying on their back to gain access to it, it would not be an easy job, and in a town where there are very few welders and a multitude of Agricultural and Marine jobs to do, trying to find someone who would tackle this around here just ain`t gonna happen as there are much easier jobs to do. I was hoping to get it onto my mates ramps to weld it, but he has been struck down with a very serious case of Pneumonia (that has included a hospital stay), and since being let out, the idiot just isn`t taking enough care and is going to kill himself the way he is carrying on. (Bill, if you are reading this, stay at home and rest you daft bugger) anyhow, it does mean that welding is not really on the cards at the moment and I need to muddle forwards with a Plan B.

Peter is correct about the problematic bolt being horizontal and any molten metal is just going to act upon gravity, so again, in reality its a bit of a non starter. The idea of rolling the car in one of those cages is also fraught with problems, unless you drain anything containing fluid - because it will go to all the places you do not want it. Batteries, washer fluid, gearbox and engine oils, brake fluids are all going to give you trouble. Those rolling cages are brilliant for restoration when dealing with a bare shell, but for a road going vehicle? Forget it.

I`m going to try that "Rescue Bit" that I found earlier and if that fails, then the engine will come out, will be turned on its side and we can deal with whatever mess I make at a later date. I am however confident enough with a dremel to give it a go though. Because of where it is, should I hit the side of the casing or damage the thread, there is still enough metal there to go up a bolt size and tap a new thread without compromising anything internally.

We shall soon see if that confidence was misplaced   

Good luck mate. I had a few frustrations with a new engine and have some idea how you feel

Dave

I know this guy will be no use to you due to location http://www.beachbuggy.info/index.php/topic,5785.0.html  but you may recall I had a snapped exhaust stud and it had only a tiny amount sticking up - he had it out in seconds and was worth every penny... if you can find someone similar locally it would save you a world of pain.

If only . . . . .

Nobody around here wants to come and do this mobile. There are a couple of places in Exeter and Plymouth that say they will have a go at it, but they do not want an engine delivered there, they want the offending part only. When I said it was a stud in a crankcase, they reply from them was to split the case and take them the 1/2 casing only.

Bugger that. If I was going to split the case, I could probably unwind this with my fingers given the amount of stud that would be showing.

The guys down here really do not need the work, they have more than enough to keep them busy.

Not given up yet   

your problem is access if you could get straight on with a small drill from the passenger side the process off drilling down the center of it in increasing drill sizes should make it screw back through if it was loose. have you tried warming the ally as it will expand more than the steel but care is required as cases do burn.

Perhaps a stupid idea, but if you have couple of threads only showing, could you not chemical metal a nut on to what's showing and give that a try until the welding option becomes available (which we know will work)   

Passenger side is in a lot worse state and also full of hardened bits, but I`m saving that side for if I need to drill the entire bolt out rather than unbolting it - so would rather tackle this from drivers side for now.

@Hudge, that was not a stupid idea at all, and you have got me thinking. Chemical metal is not going to be string enough to attatch in the way you are envisaging, however, if I can hollow out the exposed bolt, I could chemical metal the rest of the broken easy out back in there, and it would prevent the "point loading" on the sides that caused it to break in the first place.

Nice one - thats given me a really good idea 

Easy-outs are too hard IMHO, if you can get a hole in it use a VG quality tap or spiral fluted screw extractor, the more you mess with it using chemical metal or the like the harder you will make the proper job.

just as an idea,i had a damaged allen bolt(countersunk)today on a sh..ty german print machine.
couldnt get it out with an allen key as it was too far rounded.
now i could of drilled it out but thought id try another way first.
found a 6mm torx bit was too big but i could tap it into the allen bolt and it came out a treet.
so if you can drill the stud a reasonable size hole at least a torx bit isnt tapered and not as brittle so you might have more luck this way.

This sorry saga has been a bit quiet for a while, as I have been waiting for the "Rescue Bit" to arrive from the States. It got held up at customs and I seemed to have been hit by just about every bit of paperwork, import duty, handling charges, you name it, I got it, and all for a sodding drill bit. £60 later I now have this in my hands and I really hope that it was worth it.





Initial impressions were that it looks like a very fine die grinder attachment, and before tackling the broken stud, I thought I would try it on the remaining half of the easy out that I had sticking out of the vice. Sure enough, using the side of this bit, it cut through the tool steel fairly well. Slow, but a very clean cut. Right then, time to tackle that stud.

The problem with having such a short drill bit was that the chuck of my drill was fouling the engine casing and preventing me from getting a good line of attack, even with the exhaust removed. I tried an air drill, I tried a cordless drill and at one point I even had a right angled drill running off a cordless drill balanced precariously on sky hooks trying to drill a pilot hole through really toughened steel. Yeah, this just wasn`t happening. Then I remembered what the video said about this rescue bit, that you could run it at really high speeds, so I dug out my little Dremel.

Initially, the Dremel made fairly short work of drilling into the stud, but after about 4mm of penetration it was obvious that both ends of this Rescue Bit were now somewhat blunt and I was unable to drill any further. However, the sides of the tool were still fairly good at removing the bulk of the offending lump, and I kept on with that until the batteries went flat. I now had a 4mm deep hole about 4mm wide, and still no way to remove this. So, I decided to cut a slot across the face of the stud to see if I could get a screwdriver on it. After making the perfect size slot for my screwdriver, it wasn`t long before I found that the side walls of the stud were now too thin and they broke away as I applied a little pressure. Bugger. The only positive side to this was that there was now a little less metal in the hole, but I cannot say I took any comfort from this.

Bill turned up at the house the other day after his bout of pneumonia and after a few seconds of scratching his head also, said that we really needed to get it up in the air for a proper look. Great, I thought - I don`t even know if this drives yet after the gearbox transplant, but after throwing the exhausts back on and with a spare can of oil in the back, I left a nice brown trail of oil all the way to the workshop where we stuck it on the ramps to see what we were dealing with. I am proud to report though that all appears fine with the gearbox, save for an annoying squeak from the rear brakes and whilst I had got the clutch adjustment spot on, the gear selection did seem a little "tight" but then that was to be expected with a new box.





Bill got the MIG welder out and tried to weld to what was left of the stud in the hope that he could build up enough metal to get a pair of grips onto it. There will be no surprises in saying that the first attempt didn`t remove the stud, but it did remove what was left of the broken easy out tool, leaving behind the original pilot hole that I had drilled. It may have taken me backwards to where I was a month ago, but seeing that hole again felt like real progress.





Whilst we were formulating a new plan of attack, another one of my mechanic mates, Steve, made an appearance in the workshop and also had a good head scratch over the mess I had made of this. Everyone agreed that I could not have physically done any more to make this any harder to remove. We were all in agreement though, that drilling the hole bigger in order to insert and weld something in there was probably the next step to take. I got a bit concerned by the amount of swarf that came out over the next few seconds, and feared we had gone through the crankcase, but my fears went away as I realized that the swarf was magnetic, and had come from the steel stud, not the ally casing. The hole was opened up for a suitable 5mm bolt to be inserted. Unbeknown to Steve, Bill gave the area surrounding the stud a liberal spray with some penetrating liquid which had quite an effect when Steve picked up the MIG torch. Not sure which was funnier, the ensuing fireball, the bolt that shot across the workshop like a bullet or part of the stud that shattered in the explosion. It was agreed that there was a lot less metal left in the hole though and we must be at least 50% of the way there. Whilst Steve was searching for his eyebrows, I found the bolt.





So now we had nothing left to weld to and a good 10mm of stud still stuck in the hole. Maybe tie to have a closer look at the other side where the Torx bit has broken on me. Although the stud was recessed from this side, there was a bid section of broken bit that would probably have prevented any rotational movement anyway. Bill attacked this side with a die grinder so at least we has a relatively flat surface to work with whilst Steve tried his best to sharpen the Rescue Bit. He was far better at getting a cutting edge on that tool as he was using it, because it wasn`t long before it snapped on him whilst trying to drill through the remains of the Torx bit. A silly suggestion was made, wondering if we could drill through the stud from the other side and then knock out the remains of the Torx bit using a punch. Bugger me, that actually worked too, and left us with a small hole through the stud where daylight could be seen. From here it was plain sailing, 4mm drill bit, 5mm drill bit, 6mm drill bit and after a bit of gentle tapping with the punch, we were eventually left with a hole.







The autopsy on the remains of the stud indicate that the threads all look clean and true, which goes with what happened in the first place, as it was wound through the hole with very little force, and it was my own brute force and ignorance that probably nicked a thread whilst trying to return it to its original position that caused it to jam in the first place. Interestingly, there was no evidence of any shank, so it does appear as if it was a simply threaded bar with no explanation why I could not remove it when it was half hanging out. I do however give myself, Bill and Steve a big pat on the back because was not only that a large part that came out in one piece with at least 50% of the threads intact, but despite everything we threw at it, the hole is shown to be drilled perfectly through the middle of the stud.





And by a real stroke of luck, there was even enough thread left for me to wind through a new M8 bolt with washers to hold the two halves of the crankcase together whilst leaving enough thread for me to use to secure the exhaust bracket. I have to take this all apart again when I get home, so I can reassemble the rear cage etc, and I cannot say that I am really looking forward to that, bearing in mind what happened last time.





Not sure I would consider myself lucky that I have now got this sorted, as just about anything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong, but I have learned a hell of a lot along the way. If I was faced with this again, then I would have tried to seek professional help a lot earlier, but being stuck down this neck of the woods my options there have been really limited. Biggest mistake I think I made was trying to do this with the car jacked up and working from underneath. What I should have done was drop the engine and turn it upside down for better access. Would I recommend the "Rescue Bit" ? - Yes, actually I would, and it is one of the few tools that will drill through hardened tool steel, however, I completely disagree with the instructions because whilst the sides of the tool cut brilliantly when run at high speed, if you are using the end to drill a hole, then normal speeds and practices should really be observed.

See what I can Bugger up next then . . . . . 

Well done Dave, bit of endeavour gets you there every time. 
Paul

Nice one DND, proper engineering solutions, looking back, do you think " what was all that fuss about "

Quote from: HUDGE BUGGY on December 11, 2015, 05:33:54 PM
looking back, do you think " what was all that fuss about"

Looking back, I cannot think of anything else that could have gone more wrong 

on the bright side you are now our broken stud removal expert, who now has a running buggy.

Well done Dave