Stripped a strut mount bolt.

[Mr. Burns]

Was hastily changing my rear struts when I striped a bolt.

What are my option on taking it out? It's in a tricky spot

[dirtbag30]

tap one of these on there.

[mr.vang]

Vice grip if you can

[Mr. Burns]

Vice grip if you can

Tried that, too awkward.

[Mr. Burns]

tap one of these on there.

Totally forgot those existed! I'll pick one up thx!

[Mr. Burns]

no luck with that bit.


air chisel next.

[dirtbag30]

just so rusted in place? wont an air chisel do too much damage?

try heating the heck out of the nut and when its red hot hammer the bit onto it so it gets a good bite. just a suggestion

[Vivek]

Can you fit a dremel in there and just cut the whole nut and stud in half from the top? From then you should be able to pry it all apart and pull it out.

[fight4life28]

I would take the stock out, and the washer around the nut to give more space. dremeling the nut sounds like the best option. Do you wanna re-use the old strut mount?

[Mr. Burns]

Ideally I'd like to re-use the strut mount yes.

as for the strut itself I don't mind throwing that to the wind.
hence my thought on air chiseling.

I'll dremel with a cutting disc 1st however.

it's simply the awkwardness of the location...the bolt is parallel to the edge of the access hole which makes this super tricky...

[Mr. Burns]

Can you fit a dremel in there and just cut the whole nut and stud in half from the top? From then you should be able to pry it all apart and pull it out.

exactly what I'll do this eve.

[Mr. Burns]

Update.

I definately need a new strut mount now.

Dremel simply was too blunt to fit in access hole.

I went at it with an air chisel. A straight edge , and a claw foot.

Managed to break most of the bolt off. It's literally rust fused to the strut mount.


It can sort of spin it(about a quarter turn) and I can pry at it from underneath.

It just won't give.

I started using a chisel and a hammer to chip away at the bolt itself now, I've pried at it so much that the metal seems/feels to be weakening now *banghead*

I'm running out I ideas here. I could use a air cutting tool from the underside, but that creates intense amounts of sparks and I'm not comfortable with that being it so close to he gas tank and fuel filler.


Thoughts?

[Mr. Burns]

this stripped bolt is turning into a freggin nightmare!

day 3 of this $hit.

I picked up a couple more tools to try and get this thing off.

I'm concerned now that I've since bent up/down the original shape/form of the strut mount area that it'll cause more issues.

I simply plan on hammering it back to it's original shape as best I can, and installing some OEM Bilstein strut mounts.

do any of you suspect any handling or other issues do to this?

I'm running GC coilovers/Koni yellows and powerflex bushings all around

[_JohnnyD_]

You should probably invest in a pair of rear strut reinforcement plates. I think Garagestic sells them pretty cheap.

[Mr. Burns]

I was just about to order some, but shipping to Ottawa is more than the product itself.

I read that Z3's have reinforcement plates that do just as good a job.