[urq] Damn intake manifold

[DGraber460 at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/28/2006 2:44:03 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time,  
thatcher.hubbard at gmail.com writes:

I have  actually been using a 6mm, I was just stating that the old
trick of  pounding an oversize tool into a stripped-out fastener was
not going to  work in this case.  I started with a standard 6mm allen
key on a 3/8"  drive socket wrench, for the two rearmost bolts and the
three towards the  front (but not the front-most), it worked fine.  I
had removed the IM  and replaced the gasket last year when I had my
head work done, but that  had been after I had taken the head-IM-EM
assembly off the car.  I  didn't remember the torque values on the IM
bolts being that high, but they  are quite tight.

I will not be able to get the front-most bolt out  without removing the
turbo oil line that's in the way, this should not be a  problem, with
that out of the way, access is pretty clear.

The two  bolts in the rear that proved difficult are the ones are over
the "hump" in  the downpipe.  You can't get a standard socket +
extension in there  because the DP prevents you from getting a
straight-on angle.  My next  step was to use a nice ball-ended 6mm
T-handle tool to try to loosen  these.  This is where the stripping
problem seemed to have began, but  I only "spun" this tool once per
bolt, then decided to take a different  approach.

$77 later, I had a set of long allen key 3/8" drive  sockets.  I did
indeed use the 6mm one, but it seems that a single  "spin" of the
previous tool had ruined the heads on the bolts.  After  feeling the
tool into the bolt head, and verifying correct seating with a  mirror,
any turning on my part of the socket wrench resulted in that  dreaded
feel of stripped metal.  The bolt heads look okay, but like I  said,
they are quite shallow, so even a little damage is enough to  cause
problems.  I'm not sure I can get an external extractor over the  bolt
heads because of their location.  What I really need is a 6mm  allen
key that has "teeth" that dig into the bolt.  Not sure even that  would
work at this point though.



What I had to do a few years ago for the same bolts with the same problem  
was to cut a 6mm allen wrench into a short "L" configuration. I cut both ends to 
 give me a good sharp end to insert into the bolt head. I had to be very 
creative  to get it into the bolt and bottomed out but I did get it in there. I 
then took  a small box end wrench and slipped it over the allen wrench and used 
a Crescent  wrench on the small box end to apply torque to remove.
Sounds very cludgy, and it is, but I did get the bolts out. I also had the  
headlight out to get visual of the situation.
 

Dennis
Denver