Possible Stripped Bolt Quick (and cheap) fix? (FAILED)

[GSixxer]

Hey guys, I may have a possible quick and cheap fix to stripped bolts and to this day I have never seen anyone mention this kind of "McGuyver" engineering to fix a stripped bolt.

Here it goes, long story short I have had a 98 GS-T for 4 years with slight bolt-ons and I wanted to upgrade so I bought a 96 Talon TSI AWD to be able to put that power down to the wheels. However, because it had a severe case of boost creep (EVO III Big 16g) I decided to take the turbo off to do some porting/cleaning. While taking the turbo off all the bolts came off relatively easy except for one of the manifold to turbo bolts. Using a 14mm Socket and a torque wrench I ended up stripping the bolt pretty bad. Now to the possible fix.

Not wanting to have to go buy a tap and die set and learn how to use my mechanical skills properly, I improvised. I planned on using some JB-Weld (couldnt find the JB at my house) inside the socket and attach it to the bolt and let it cure and then try to extract the bolt after. While at Wal-Mart (this is 3am in the morning) I spotted something called QuikSteel next to the JB and it looked promising so I am going to put it to the test!

I do realize that I am going to ruin this socket I have but I probably have atleast 7 sockets of this size so its no big deal. I am sooo tired from working on the talon after a day of work at my job so after I set the QuickSteel on the bolt/socket I came in to write this and see anyone elses opinions on this matter for when I wake up.

I plan on waking up at about 10-11am (so really closer to 12-1pm) and I will bust out the wrench and see if it worked. If it does ill write a tech article on it (assuming no one tries to steal credit for my "McGuyverness" ) And if it doesn't work I'll post an update to this thread and try again with some JB after I get off work

Thoughts, comments, and constructive critism is welcome

*UPDATE*

I just checked some of the QuickSteel I had left over that didn't fit in the socket and it felt pretty hard to the touch, but when I used some needle nose pliers to put some pressure on it, the putty completely "smooshed". After that I was able to break apart the remainder of the putty by hand. It's been about an hour since I mixed the putty and the packaging says, "FULLY CURES IN ONE HOUR, HARD AS STEEL IN 5 MINUTES" Well, if it is hard as steel why does it mold as easy as hardened clay? These results do not seem promising, but like I said, I will try it out when I wake up.

 

[6 bolt dreams]

Go to sears or wal mart and buy easy out set not sure if thats wast there really called, but regardless there like sockets but when you look in the end it should look like teeth beat the right size on with a hammer and depending on which bolt it is you may need an extension. Good luck.

 

[sadc]

try heat it a little....might work

 

[Auto RS T]

^

Right. The best way to do this would be with a torch and some vise grips, you could get lucky and still fit a 6 point socket over the bolt. Get someone who is skilled and has a torch to come over and heat the exhaust housing where the bolt is stuck. Then work it out. I would still re-tap the bolt hole when done and buy a new factory bolt set and replace all the old bolts. Make sure you get the washers too.

 

[GSixxer]

I do have a torch, I just misplaced it or this would have already been done, about to try it out now and see if it works. I plan on going over to the stealership and picking up some new bolts and washers anyway.

 

[DanThMan1983]

Drill it using a reverse drill bit use the appropriate sized extractor to remove it, its key to drill all the way through the bolt to relieve the tension it has on the threads, then tape it, if the threads are not in good shape after that get a heli coil kit. I use this method at the dealership when ever I break a bolt or stud. The snapon reverse drill bit and extractor kit works great. Also as mentioned above the socket extractors work sometimes. oh and be sure to spray them with PB blaster.

 

[knochgoon24]

By stripped you mean that the hex is rounded off, correct? Use some vice grips if you can still get ahold of it.

 

[GSixxer]

That was my next step I had in mind. I just tried this method with the QuickSteel and it sucked, that junk is worthless!

 

[turboglenn]

Drill it using a reverse drill bit use the appropriate sized extractor to remove it,[/b] its key to drill all the way through the bolt to relieve the tension it has on the threads[/b], then tape it, if the threads are not in good shape after that get a heli coil kit. I use this method at the dealership when ever I break a bolt or stud. The snapon reverse drill bit and extractor kit works great. Also as mentioned above the socket extractors work sometimes. oh and be sure to spray them with PB blaster.

Yes, many people do not drill all the way through and wonder why their "eazy out" or whatever is in their eyes "useless" I learned this the hard way years ago, but after just trying to drill all the way through one that time and seeing how easy the bolt then came out, i have drilled every broken bolt all the way through since.

I knew from the beggining that "quick stee"l or jb-weld wouldn't work in the way you were wanting to use it. Mainly because if you mangled the steel bolt, there's not an epoxy/metal filler out there than has ever come close to even being good for more than a few ft/lbs of torque that i've ever witnessed

 

[PIMking]

Have you ever heard of a gator grip socket? its about the size of the plug socket and it has little teeth in it and it works great if you have stripped heads on your bolts.

I rarley use it but just incase it works charms.

 

[6 bolt dreams]

i still say easy out that thing i have never had a problem doing it and if you drill too far it could be a bad thing but he dose work at a stealership so the mans most likely right

 

[fwdmaster]

Get the GRABIT,as seen on tv.Worked on my turbo housing with stripped bolts

 

[HIGHPSI4]

These little 'one hit wonders' I call them work sometimes. If you will get a good set of reverse directional drill bits and some good 'easy-outs' and get used to using them you will not go back to wasting your time on the cheap stuff. BTW, I have had a reverse directional drill bit to actually bring out the broken fastener before using an easy out.

 

[GSixxer]

*UPDATE*

While I feel pretty sure that this could have worked with JB-Weld I never got the chance to try it out. Reason being I was angry at the crap quality (or the overhyped description) of the QuickSteel that I went out and bought a air tool set and used a 6pt 14mm socket with an impact wrench and it worked gracefully. Found my tap n die set too haha....

 

[DSMopar]

*UPDATE*

While I feel pretty sure that this could have worked with JB-Weld I never got the chance to try it out. Reason being I was angry at the crap quality (or the overhyped description) of the QuickSteel that I went out and bought a air tool set and used a 6pt 14mm socket with an impact wrench and it worked gracefully. Found my tap n die set too haha....

Soooo you were using a 12 point the whole time? I hope you learned a lesson .