Broken Y-Pipe Bolt REALLY Has Me Worried

[David T]

I am not going to say this does not work, but in my experience, the hotter you get the metal you are drilling, the faster your drill bit will melt...

You can try using a masonary carbide bit. Lowes or Hmoe Depot will have them. Get a few 1/8" and give them a try with some cutting fluid. Don't worry if you wind up off-center. Worst case you tap it, make a plug out of aluminum, thread it, insert it and then cut it off flush. Position your Y pipe to locate the hole, and then drill and tap a new hole through it. If you have a small torch you can heat the broken piece up and then try loosening it with a small centerpunch. That might work. E Z outs are really E Z ins, they are very difficult to get out! I try not to use them, I never had much luck with them. If the bolt is that stuck that it broke off what is the logic of using an E Z out?

[SS Spoiler]

An easy way to get the bit centered is to put the y-pipe back on with the other bolts. Now make/get a bushing
that fits snugly in the y-pipe hole and use it to keep the bit centered.

[lsoasey]

So is your Y pipe removed or are you drilling the broken bold through the Y pipe hole?

Fortunately, the Y Pipe is removed...

Well, have you tried a steel carving bit or are you just using the carbide with the Dremel?

I think I have only tried the carbide grinding bits... I'll have to look for the steel carving bits. Do they have any special name or label?

Get a torch and heat it up....HOT... Then get a very small drill bit and see if you can get at least the slightest divet/hole in the center. Then begin working your way up to larger bits. The heat will soften the bit that's stuck in the bolt.

I haven't tried heat yet, but I'll have to admit that I've been finding mixed reviews in various forums if this technique really helps at all in a aluminum block scenario. I may need to try it, however, if my grinding efforts hit a dead end or show sings of making the situation even worse.

You can try using a masonary carbide bit. Lowes or Hmoe Depot will have them. Get a few 1/8" and give them a try with some cutting fluid. Don't worry if you wind up off-center. Worst case you tap it, make a plug out of aluminum, thread it, insert it and then cut it off flush. Position your Y pipe to locate the hole, and then drill and tap a new hole through it. If you have a small torch you can heat the broken piece up and then try loosening it with a small centerpunch. That might work. E Z outs are really E Z ins, they are very difficult to get out! I try not to use them, I never had much luck with them. If the bolt is that stuck that it broke off what is the logic of using an E Z out?

I haven't thought of trying a masonary carbide bit yet... I feel like by the end of this ordeal I will have used every type of bit made to get this stinking bolt out. I also had not thought of making an aluminum plug that would get re-drilled and threaded if my drill out ends up off center. Interesting idea. There's a good chance that I will indeed be off center in the end. I've already found that my grinding efforts have started to round off the edge at the top of the bolt hole. I'm not sure I could accurately find center anymore because of this.

[lsoasey]

Here is an image of the current state of the broken bolt removal effort. (Not sure if enough detail will come through, but I'll try it...) I made a little progress tonight with a narrow Dremel aluminum oxide grinding stone. I wore the stone down to the shank, however, so had to stop.

Y-Pipe_StuckBolt_1.jpg

[DMC5180]

Here is an image of the current state of the broken bolt removal effort. (Not sure if enough detail will come through, but I'll try it...) I made a little progress tonight with a narrow Dremel aluminum oxide grinding stone. I wore the stone down to the shank, however, so had to stop.

Heat would have allowed fairly easy removal early on when you still had an unbroken extractor. I've had to do it a couple times on that very bolt location on friends car and project motor. I used a heat gun with a concentrator tip pointed at the casting bose. From what I see you are doing a remarkably good job at keeping your grinding tip centered.

I recently had to remove a broken drill bit at my work. I had the advantage of it being in a mill though. I used an 1/8" 4 flute Carbide Ball type end mill which slowly chewed through it (turned to dust). I would recommend you make yourself a drill jig that you can bolt in place with the opposite hole location. I did this with a couple broken exhaust studs many years ago. It allowed me to drill straight through the center of the broken stud. You could do the same thing with a Carbide Ball mill mentioned earlier. Btw I used a 1/2" thick steel plate for my drill fixture. Don't push on the bit let it do the work. Your doing a great job all things considered. GOOD LUCK. Btw I would NOT try a Carbide Masonry bit will not it and would likely wonder off track anyway. You need a precision ground bit. This will fit your dremel tool.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-8-SOLID-CA...3D311055690606

[DMCMW Dave]

We typically use the grinding stone you mentioned. They are not really made for this so you will use several.


Sent from phone

[lsoasey]

I recently had to remove a broken drill bit at my work. I had the advantage of it being in a mill though. I used an 1/8" 4 flute Carbide Ball type end mill which slowly chewed through it (turned to dust). I would recommend you make yourself a drill jig that you can bolt in place with the opposite hole location. I did this with a couple broken exhaust studs many years ago. It allowed me to drill straight through the center of the broken stud. You could do the same thing with a Carbide Ball mill mentioned earlier. Btw I used a 1/2" thick steel plate for my drill fixture. Don't push on the bit let it do the work. Your doing a great job all things considered. GOOD LUCK. Btw I would NOT try a Carbide Masonry bit will not it and would likely wonder off track anyway. You need a precision ground bit. This will fit your dremel tool.

I'm staring the think about how to create a drill jig... I don't have welding equipment -- at least not yet. Can you tell me a little more about your setup with the 1/2" steel plate? Did you somehow mount the drill directly to the plate? Or, did this provide more of a guide to align the milling bit through? Perhaps I'll search around on the web for DIY drill jigs...

[DMC5180]

When i made my drill jig plate for exhaust stud drilling. I just too a gasket and marked the 4 hole pattern. I drilled out the 2 holes that are normally unused to the nominal M7 hole. the other 2 were drilled to the size of the bit I intended use in drilling into the stud for E-Z out installation. The plate was about 3" x 3" x 1/2 thick. I mounted it to the head exhaust ports using a couple M7 bolts in the empty stud locations. You can use the same concept with your situation. you can either make a 2 hole version and bolt it in place with the GOOD bolt hole or you could go even bigger and pickup an additional hole from the other Y-pipe connection port.

From the sounds of it though If Dave says what you are doing is the same as they do it at the Shop then I'd keep going with the grinding stones.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Looks like your doing a good job keeping the hole centered. What I did next was to start enlarging the hole with the grinder until you see threads showing. Then I picked out the remaining metal and was able to use a tap to clean it all up. It's back braking work.

[DMC5180]

The broken extractor has to be removed first.