Aaargh! Broken bolt!
 

I broke off the larger of the two drivers side stone guard bolts trying to begin the master cylinder replacement. This is the one that the brace connects to from the steering rack. I drilled a hole through it to try to spray some lube up in it so it could trickle down into the threads. Surprise--bit comes up through floorboards behind the pedals! Anyway, that's not the point.....

I tried driving an extractor into it to see if it would bite enough to wrench it and wound up breaking off the tip in the hole! :mad: Now I've got 3/4 of a bolt rusted into a hole that has a carbide nugget lodged in it's center.

Tips? Suggestions? Is there enough metal there to try to drill it all out and retap the hole a size larger?

Signed, Frustrated in Virginia.

--Case...

Use a Cobalt bit to cut thru the metal. They ain't cheap but the only way to drill metal IMHO.
Geoff

Got a friend with a welder? Have him weld a nut to the exposed part of the bolt. (If there is any.) You'll have something to put a wrench on again, and the heat from the welding will often break the corrosion or whatever is holding the bolt in place.

--DD

Thanks for the comments, guys.

None there. The break is submerged in the hole. But the welding makes me think......

How about just welding the brace from the steering rack to that point (where the bolt is broken) and then finding some other way to re-attach the stone guard? I'm assuming the stone guard just hangs there and deflects rocks. Does it provide any support or "cross bracing" for the steering rack such that it too needs to be "good as new"?

Thanks for being an engine in the thought train!

--Case...

I think all it does is keep rocks away from the master cylinder, steering rack, and fuel tank compartment.

--DD

Thanks, Dave