Re: Looking for useful impact wrench on a budget...

[gerard@dockside.co.za]

> Those are probably the three worst fasteners on the car.  I
> use a Facom 12mm/13mm short-handled box wrench (ring
> spanner) from above to shift the front one, and a stepped
> box wrench from above on the other two. Just break them
> until they move (nut and bolt as a unit) then get under
> the car with a 13mm six-sided 3/8" drive socket on a
> flexible joint (UJ) taped up with gaffer tape.  I _have_
> met 12mm nuts here, too.

Facom? Will look it up on the net as usual. What do you use
when problems arise with rounded bolt heads and nuts?
Yes, I found out that the nuts on the lower end of the
flange vary alot and I didn't have a socket that was long
enough to cover the protruding bolt end, ie. couldn't get
the socket to grip the bolt sides. What's the story on
those Metrinch spanners?

> The gaffer tape makes the UJ stiff enough to place the
> socket.  Once the socket is in place, you and an assistant
> (using your wrenches on the top nuts) just fight each one
> to and fro until the nut cracks and starts to wind down the
> bolt.  With practice, a trained team can crack each nut
> in less than twenty seconds.

An assistant? Hmmm... didn't have one of those around at
the time when I was trying to pull the WG in an evening.
Hence once again, get out the air tank and impact wrench and
blast the useless bolts loose. Would be going this route if
I could simply remove the bolt holding the 2 cups of the
wastegate gate in place as everyone said could be done,
which normally means it can't be done on my car and if it
could I can't do it. :)

> The first time Roger Galvin and I did this together, it
> took us half an hour.  The last time, his wife had just
> brought some cups of tea out to the garage and he climbed
> under leaving her holding the cups.  He was out before she
> got bored.

Okay, maybe I should do a trial and drag a friend to my
place and get him to help remove the gate as a test.

> Roger has a source of heat-resistant stainless nuts and
> bolts, which is what we refit.  Note that just breaking the
> lower nut loose isn't enough, because the bolt head will
> spin.  You need to hold the top, which almost inevitably
> implies an assistant.

Where'd you get these heat-resistant stainless nuts and
bolts? Pricey stuff or relatively cheap? Those bolts holding
the WG to the downpipe seem to all be of different length
and even of different metric size. One of the jobs to be
done to the car is check out the exhaust manifold and
perhaps fit a 2-piece unit (cheapie!! honest!) and remove
the WG to fit a new diaphragm, so might as well get equal
sized bolts to fit the WG in place again.

Just to go off the topic of looking for a impact wrench
which became removing wastegate bolts, how much would it
take to remove the exhaust manifold? Inlet has to come off
or what? Turbo has to come off and oil/h2o lines removed?
Ugh...I can see myself botching that up!

G.

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