Surasonac

So I just wen't to replace my starter motor since its the old crappy kind. I have a nice new 2.2kw one. I disconnected the power terminal. And the lower bolt came loose quite easily. And then I took a look at the top nut. Completely rounded. This seems to be a running problem with cars I buy... there has always been some idiot in there before me stripping bolts like they have no cares in the world. Quite frustrating because now I have to pay my mechanic to get it off, and the minimum labor fee is 1 hour. So RIP £60 because of a dumb nut. I tried those 'rounded bolt remover' sockets, I bought some a while ago but they are too short to fit over the stud coming though the nut.

Just thought i'd share my story for everyone else's amusement. Luckily all the exhaust bolts looked in good condition so i'm confident I can fit my decat pipe in the next few days.

mazdaverx7

iTrader: (6)

They do make the sockets you are talking about in deep well. However you will pay as much or more for the set as you would to have the nut removed. Before you take it in, you can try hammering a socket onto the rounded nut. Sometimes you can get lucky and the hammered on socket will bite in enough to remove the rounded nut. I know there's not a lot of room there so I would understand if you decided not to try that.

Its a shame really that people hack their car and do not perform repairs properly.

Surasonac

Yeah, I have half the car up on the curb and half the car on jack stands with not much room to move under there. I don't think I could have hammered a socket onto it, at least not very easily. Its okay though, my mechanic is generally quite fair and doesn't rip me off. I'll get him to do the starter and replace the nut with a new one. He'll have the right tools. I'm just going to get him to do my exhaust work while its up on the ramp too. If i'm paying an hours labor then I might as well get as much as I can for my money.

NotAPreppie

The other option is to get another nut and thread it down the bolt to but up against the hoopajooped nut. Then tack weld the two together and use a normal deep socket to remove them.

Surasonac

Thats an nice idea, but I shouldn't be let anywhere near a welder. I melt anything I go near with that thing. I really need to learn how to weld haha

NotAPreppie

Best way to learn is to just start doing it.

My wife and I took a 2 hour class at a local business and then I bought myself a cheap, entry level MIG welder. I can tell that I'm still learning because my welds with my $300 Lincoln Handy MIG aren't any worse than my friend's fancy pants $1700 Esab.

Surasonac

When my friend crashed his Corsa I took his old half crumpled hood home, its sitting in my shed right now because I planed to use it for welding practice. But I moved house shortly after I got it and now its far, far too hot to weld inside and outside. Maybe in the fall i'll try and make some stuff. I don't have a fancy welder either. You just open the top, slap some welding wire in. There is a switch for high and low current and a dial for adjusting the speed the welding wire comes out. I got it for free, came with a pair of gloves and two automatic welding helmets which let you see normally and go darker when you start welding. Last time I used it was trying to repair my trolley jack when a pin snapped, I tried to weld in a small bolt and ended up melting the bolt in half and then the weld broke. I'll try again this fall and see if I can get any better.

I've talked to my mechanic, its going in on thursday. He said he has the proper deep bolt extractors to remove the rounded nut. I'm getting him to install my decat at the same time and I asked if he can try and get the metal out my resonator. But I said if by the time he completes the starter and decat its approaching 1 hour then don't bother with the muffler. I'll just get a cheapo ebay replacement. At this point anything will sound better than the sliding of metal particulates and shrill of clanging chunks of cat constantly. I'm going to check out the cat and wash it out with some soapy water or a solvent of some kind and hope its good enough for its 1 time use every year when I get an MOT.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

A helpful tip is whenever you plan on working on hardware is to spray everything with PB Blaster several hours or a day ahead.
It may not help with a rounded nut or bolt, but it helps sometimes if you can get a ViseGrip pliers on it.