hood

[theycallmebruce]

i was trying to tighten down the passenger side hood hinge because i was getting an annoying rattle after 4 prothane mounts+balance shaft removal.

so i was slowly tightening the nut that holds the hinge to the fender. it had very minor resistance so i'm thinking 'ok it was loose. maybe tightening it up will fix this annoying rattle'.

next thing i know the damn bolt breaks right off, with the nut on it. i'm thinking from the minimal resistance if gave to begin with, maybe the bolt was already worn but not totally broken off, which i took the liberty of completing.

so now the question is: how hard is it to replace that bolt? is it accessible if i take off the wheel and splash guard?

 

[NOSNUSE]

You should be able to get an extractor that goes in a drill that is for such thing as this. I have used them on several bolts on the hunk of dsm I have, they are availible at most hardware stores and auto parts stores. they look like a drill bit but they work in reverse so they can clamp down on the bolt then turn it out of the hole that it is in. You should be able to take out the splash guard to get to it. Later ,Keith.

p.s. They call me Bruce was a great movie, haven't seen it for a while though, they should put it out on DVD.

 

[theycallmebruce]

thanks for the advice.

i'm hoping that i won't have to extract. it's the thread side of a bolt with a nut holding the hinge down, same way the tops of the strut towers are. ideally, there would be a hex on the other end inside the fender where i could get in there and ratchet it out. this is hypothesizing of course because i've never been under there and was hoping someone who has could suggest the best way to tackle this.

the bolt i'm talking about is the visible one that holds the hood hinge to the car body(there's one hidden underneath the plastic at the base of the windshield.