i have an older corvette and the thermostat went… easy fix right? wrong. i ended up breaking one of the waterneck bolts. so i punched a mark in the center of the bolt and started drilling with titanium bits. i barely made a dimple with 4 bits and cutting oil. i bought the cobalt bits from home depot… same result. what bits have you guys used that lasted and cut well?
thanks in advance
tommy
p.s. it is a grade 4 bolt
You’re spinning the drill the right way right? :mamoru:
I guess I’m not familiar with what a “waterneck bolt” is. Is this on the radiator?
Thomas,
would you be able to get one of those Craftsman bolt out things on it? I had a fun weekend working on the gf’s Golf GL with breaking bleeders.
Those are the greatest things ever invented. I was a bit skeptical when I bought them but they have saved my ARSE soooo many times. I even used them to take out head bolts that some previous owner dolt rounded:headbang: :headbang: :headbang:
krant is on the speed!
guessing by the fact that he’s drilling, the bolt is probably broken off in the hole. Get some good bits, go slow and good luck. BTW if you need any taps, I have a nice Irwin Tap set if you need it.
Jeller
the bolt head is completely broken off, and yes i have a set of the bolt outs. i was wondering what types of drill bits everyone has had luck with for cutting hardened metal
Cobalt is the best for hardened steel. What brand cobalt bits did you use?
hrm my dad bought these bits at the fairgrounds once that came in a bag, they worked awesome for drilling metal. I have no idea what they were made of and I lost them all so it doesnt really help you. There have to be bits made specifically for this, google it up, order on the net.
jaeger: so far i have used the ridgid/home depot brand and the ace hardware brand. the ridgid braqnd barely made a dimple with cutting oil. the ace brand faired a little better but still not enough.
poopra : thanks for nothing… lol j/k
i think i am just going to suck it up and take it somewhere because at this pace i will have to buy $500 in drill bits
man if i only knew someone in the tool business hint hint nudge nudge wink wink lol
you have to be doing something wrong, a sae grade 4 bolt is low carbon cold drawn, decently weak in the world of bolts.
Get these, you can not break these unless you are going to fast
I hear what your saying. But, I broke the damn bleeders off my GF’s frealking Golf GF last week. Man, I sprayed penetrating oil on them forever before I was going to do the brakes, and I even wire brusted the threads, and used a hand impact wrench with the 10mm socket to help free them prior to attempting to opening the bleeders. Muther F’ers broke with a TINY 1/4 wratchet and me going SLOWLY. I was AMAZED when i pounded a Craftsman bolt out what was left of the one and it worked. The other side, not so lucky. I drilled a nice straight hole with a small drill bit, got an extractor in what was left of the bleeder, and the F’ing extractor broke off flush with the damn caliper:2fingers: new caliper later, the slut mobile is back on the road. The one saide got to the point that there was NOTHING left prior to the attempted extracting. I started out using a #4, by the time I was done I was on the one thats about as big in diameter as a pencil. One nice feature of those bolt outs is that if you can get the stud through the bolt out, you can use a open end/box wrench on it. With some of the bolt outs that attach directly to the wrench, you do not have that option.
I’ve got a edelbrock rpm performer intake i’d let go for 40 bucks or so. That cant be a grade 4 it would drill out easily. more often than not extractors dont work.
bend over tommy…jk. good luck bro.
ps:i hate cars
a little note to everyone: the best cobalt bits i have found so far are the ace hardware brand. better than craftsman professional and home depots ridgid brand
call m tomorrow and I will meet you at my garage. you can borrow any bit i have.
jaeger i am just bustin your balls. i can’t even find anything to use no matter where i go. i am either going to end up ordering specialty bits online or taking the car to the shop to have it done
one thing i may try since i have access to the top is to take a large nut (hehehehe) and weld it onto what is left of the bolt… we’ll see
