Well, I’ve finally tackled the broken timing cover bolt. I tried welding a nut onto the end of it multiple times with no luck. All that really accomplished was to harden the bolt. Next, it was on to drilling a super-hard bolt. The bits that I had on hand didn’t do much. I bought a bolt extractor set and the drill bits in the kit were a little better. Then it was on to getting a left-handed drill bit set. This was where I had the most success. These got me close and then an easy-out got the rest of the threads out. It’s all back together now, tested, timed, double and triple-checked and everything seems to be OK. I still have a bit of tidying up under the hood with the wiring, etc, but I can’t wait until spring to take it for a test run. I wound up having to replace the oil pressure gauge line as it must have gotten pinched and a hole made in it. I found the geyser of oil when I primed the oil pump. Better then, than on the road somewhere. Lastly, thank you to everyone who commented on this thread with tips and advice. I REALLY appreciate it. I used this site to help me through any questions I had by searching for threads where folks had similar questions as I did. This place is incredible! Thanks again! I’m in your debt.
Oh, and I almost forgot, a water pump swap to eliminate belt squeal (which brought all this on in the first place) was successful. No more squeal while sitting in the shop with the revs up. A short pump from Todd solved the problem.
I was fully expecting to see pictures with the complete front sheetmetal off, motor removed, and a freshly painted frame and firewall... lol That's how these restorations begin,with a waterpump removal or timing chain swap..
Indeed! I really wanted to hear the car fire up again. I didn’t get a lot of seat time in it this year. It felt really good to hear it light off.
I agree that heating the heck out of the bolt hardens it. The direction of the drill bit has nothing to do with getting that bolt out, other than you had a better bit! And good job not breaking off the easy-out. There are drill bits called Rescue Bits that are designed to drill through all sorts of hardened stuff. I’ve never used one, they are very expensive, there are very few sizes, but they are well-received by the folks that have used them.
I agree, it was the quality of the drill bit and not the direction of rotation that made it more successful. I just got back in from the shop. I had to listen to the old girl run again!
Here’s a short video of it running after getting it back together. Since this video, I’ve removed the Accel Supercoil and cleaned things up a little. I wasn’t planning on sharing the video, but oh well.
I feel your pain...the long bolt holding the PS bracket broke. Then the EasyOut snapped off in the bolt when I was trying to extract it. Got everything out, but a huge PITA over several weekends.
