I was rushing and I stripped these nuts..any suggestions? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Carrameow · #1 04-02-2005, 11:50 PM

My plan was to have the engine disassembled by dinner today, and then work through the night and have it back together by 5 am and then catch three winks and then get up by 9 am and then throw it back in the car in time to drive it to work Monday.
So much for that idea. Production came to a dead stop at 3 PM this afternoon.
Now instead of the clatter of engines flying through the air, and tools being tossed into the toobox, and my noisey air compressor and Billy Joel on the CD player, plus my horrible singing, there is nothing but dead silence.
All my adrenaline is gone. ......
I stripped 2 of the nuts shown below. My plan is to grind the heads off of them, but then work will have to cease until I locate any new ones... Your suggestions are deeply appreciated...

Geez, things were going too great to be true. I finally got an engine out without breaking anything on the car or myself. No stitches from dropping a transmission on my head.
For once I did not do anything stupid like drop the engine on my wife's flower bed or forget to chock the wheels on my car ( I forgot the e-brake was dissasembled) only to have it roll down the hill for fifty yards before it finally came to a harmless stop after plowing two long strips across my neighbor's golf course like lawn...

Benzcrusher · #2 04-03-2005, 12:15 AM

IIRC those bolt heads are a goofy size like 12.8mm, they are tight and your socket must be in good shape and square on the head... Try to remove adjacent bolts and remove the stipped ones with a pipe wrench. Pipe wrenches exert force in the jaws in proportion to the force placed on the handle...

Lots of luck finding replacement bolts at AutoZone in the morning.... I believe that the manual calls for all of them to be replaced once removed...

Johnhef · #3 04-03-2005, 01:10 AM

I think he's right about replacing them all.

I can get you part numbers for them if you like, let me know.

I got lucky. My friend broke his flexplate apart and the bolts were easy enough to come out so I could replace it. When I was disassembling my other friends blown engine, none of the 12 bolts would budge and most of them stripped the heads.

brabus · #4 04-03-2005, 01:15 AM

I stripped the head off a bolt rusted into the engine of my 1972 speed boat and after trying just about everything (including the pipe wrench method that usually works) I got a set of “Bolt Out” from Craftsman at Sears. It’s a kit I can now not live without.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=42263&item=4369654674&rd=1

This is the small set. It is what i have and gets the job done, but i would recomend the full set ($50.00 at Sears) I have wanted the in between sizes every now and then.

DieselBone · #5 04-03-2005, 01:50 AM

I think you may as well slow the heck down before you break something else. Its not a race, go get new bolts and try again. Why not do it right the first time?? You better make sure you got that botton end in right before that motor goes in too. Triple check everything!

good luck!

leathermang · #6 04-03-2005, 08:59 AM

Do you remember me saying that if you can keep to that schedule you outlined that you are in a different mechanical dimension than I am ?

You are now experiencing the real world of old machines. And then throw in the exotics of MB for parts chasing on weekends and holidays and overdesigned systems to start with.

The kind of day you are having NOW multiplied over a thousand times in the last 35 years... This is where we old guys get our conservative attitudes... they are ETCHED INTO US by adrenaline highs and lows.

When you see a bunch of old guys arguing for pages about mundane subjects which you are sure is only caused by their lack of a Real Life.. think again... When they advise " Always run a tap into holes to clean them before putting the bolt back in " and " to blow out the chips in the hole" or " WEAR GOGGLES WHEN BLOWING THE STUFF OUT OF THE HOLE" or " find a bottoming tap for blind holes to do this correctly" or " you can't get the proper torgue reading unless the hole is cleaned " or " put heavy grease on the threads before inserting the tap to catch the metal shavings" or " use locktite or Antiseize for specific types of situations"..... All these things were learned the hard way back when there was not a method of sharing information like the internet.... or people who could ' feel your pain' when you write about it...

Don't let inanimate objects affect your MOOD....You can lose many battles and still win the WAR by persistance and carefully choose the animate objects you allow to affect your MOOD and motivation.

leathermang · #7 04-03-2005, 09:05 AM

And the next thing is the importance of attempting to spell things correctly so that they will show up in searches...
and using the correct nomenclature for objects...

It looks to me like you broke off two Bolts... but said ' nuts'... is that correct?

Can you imagine trying to fix them up under the car with the engine in place?

Hatterasguy · #8 04-03-2005, 11:08 AM

I would plan on two weeks +/- for a project like that. Do it right clean your engine and plug up all of the oil leaks. Now would be a great time for a new oil pump, timing chain ect. Clean everything and look for worn parts to replace.

"My plan was to have the engine disassembled by dinner today, and then work through the night and have it back together by 5 am and then catch three winks and then get up by 9 am and then throw it back in the car in time to drive it to work Monday."

No offense but this plan is insane! You will run into a bunch of issues and problems. Plus if you screw up your bottom end you will be needing another engine. If you were doing a simple engine swap then maybe you could probably pull it off but it is not worth rushing.

Brian Carlton · #9 04-03-2005, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leathermang

And the next thing is the importance of attempting to spell things correctly so that they will show up in searches...
and using the correct nomenclature for objects...

It looks to me like you broke off two Bolts... but said ' nuts'... is that correct?

Can you imagine trying to fix them up under the car with the engine in place?

Actually, Greg, they look like cap screws. If there is no "nut" behind them, they would properly be called a "cap screw", correct?

I was always under the assumption that a bolt required a nut.

leathermang · #10 04-03-2005, 11:36 AM

Brian, since you are a trained engineer you are probably correct...

However, I am opposed on moral and practical grounds to the idea of having an object in ones hand and calling it two different things depending on(sometimes unknown ) manner of use... to me screws use a screw driver to turn... and hex headed threaded items which use a socket are bolts...

Carrameow · #11 04-03-2005, 11:40 AM

I work in an office where everyone sits in a cubicle and there are 500 people on each floor. You can go hours without talking to a friend, everything is voicemail, email and officemail and in the meetings everyone is so stiff and serious. I see people who sit next to others for years who never say Hi and sometimes trust isnt always there.

So once in a while I like to cut the rug in my posts...after all you can get Sick from being overly serious. They say humour is the best medicine. Dont worry I never planned to do this in one weekend...Those Mazdas I did 15 years ago...those were year long projects

This project is stress relief. I'm going to enjoy it.
I wish to he__ I had the bucks to take this engine down to the last bolt and clean it and rebuild it to brand new.

Old300D · #12 04-03-2005, 11:41 AM

When I replaced my flex plate, I stripped out all but two of those "fasteners". I ruined a few drill bits, but successfully removed the heads. My local dealership had a dozen of the new style (12mm or 13mm, 12 point) bolts in stock for less than $3 each.

leathermang · #13 04-03-2005, 11:47 AM

All things considered... I think is very important that you follow the FSM in terms of cleaning your oil passages.... this means taking out the ball bearing seal at the rear of the engine and running some kind of cleaning rod all the way through it at the very least.

Stevo · #14 04-03-2005, 11:57 AM

Carrameow

Man, talk about "burning the midnight oil" You get OT for that right

The first auto trans I took out of a car (240D parts car) just a couple of weeks ago I used the impact wrench and rounded off one of those goofy bolts, a neighbor welded a cheapo 12 mm wrench to it.
__________________

whunter · #15 04-03-2005, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carrameow

I work in an office where everyone sits in a cubicle and there are 500 people on each floor. You can go hours without talking to a friend, everything is voice mail, email and office mail and in the meetings everyone is so stiff and serious. I see people who sit next to others for years who never say Hi and sometimes trust isn't always there.

A funny picture for you.

http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~cs99/public_old/kotz/dilbert.jpg

more humor

http://images.google.com/images?q=dilbert&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search