[JRoser]

My Water Pump was leaking coolant on my 1998 Boxster, so I decided to replace the water pump gasket.

After removing all the components described in Wayne's Technical Article of Water Pump and Thermostat Replacement, I came across one unforgiving bolt on the Water Pump that would not budge. The 10mm flexhead would not grip the very top bolt. I noticed that the pulley for the water pump was almost touching the bolt. On further inspection I found that the pulley had actually shirred the bolt head and and rubbed off 3 of the points of the bolt head making it impossible to take off with the required 10mm flexhead.

So, I tried the following methods:
1. Liquid Wrench spray with a vise a needle nose vice grip. Result: Won't stay on and keeps slipping because of the angle.
2. Attaching another nut to the sheared bolt head with JB Weld, and trying to unscrew it. Result: JB Weld is not holding the nut.

Other Factors: If you were looking directly at the water pump and had you head even with the pulley, you would see the pulley wheel was covering part of the bolt head, meaning you couldn't get a socket around it. You have to come from the top because of the pulley wheel covering part of the bolt head. If you look at any manual like Bentley's or Wayne's article you would not see the pulley up partially over the bolt head.

Question 1: Can I just pull the pulley straight out someway?

Question 2: Can you provide me any other avenues to solve this problem?

Thanks