At a loss for words...water pump
 

:mad:so the simple water pump replacement has turned into 2 broken water pump bolts. Bought an Irwin extraction kit to get the broken bts out of the block. Thought I was centered, but as I am am threading extractor, a small piece of the block chips off. Bolt still in block. Don't even know what to think now..suggestions?
Haven't even tried 2nd bolt.

ooohhh.... that's ugly. I'm so sorry.

For me, that's when I take the block out and take it to a machine shop. Because now it has to be welded.

I wonder if a helicoil would work here. I don't thing the torque is high here.
Maybe also using a threaded post and nut configuration. Other than that welding would be the only other option.

jb weld the broken boss
drill the bolts out
helicoil or similar

Has anybody tried Alumaloy? I wonder if it would be a good candidate for this situation. Either way, it's not a pleasant situation to be in, I feel for you redciv1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQw9Xt6EJN8

The torque is only 7 ft. Lbs on those bolts. Not much at all.

I'm really thinking this route.

Never knew that stuff exists. Will definitely look into it.

Does the helicoil have to be the same length as original bolt or could it be shorter?

usually they are shorter.
again you shouldn't have an issue as these bolts are not super tight.
i highly recommend this tool to center drill the bolt and then use an extractor (or a larger left hand drill bit)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGx7DsPX4nc

and i'm not affiliated :)

Looking at helicoil kits and not sure what size to get. How do you tell as the bolt was 6x30mm bolt?

pet says m6. no idea on thread pitch. i usually figure it out by putting the fastener against one of a known pitch, or running a thread chaser of a known pitch over it.

Thanks alot

As for getting the broken bolt out. I've had great success using a mig welder on broken bolts broken off in aluminum. I simply just arc off the broken bolt and make a puddle high enough until I can weld another bolt to the broken part. If you keep the arc off the edges you won't mess up the treads. The high heat of the welding also helps loosen up the stuck bolt. Sometimes the welded bolt breaks off a few times before you get one that will remove the broken part and it comes loose. This process has worked for 3 exhuast manifold bolts and one caliper bleeder valve.

As for the chipped block. I think I would try the helicoil or maybe a retap of the hole as it looks like you might have enough material there to hold a bolt.

Thanks Woody, definitely enough material left to either helicoil or retap.

Since the hole is so close to the edge of the aluminum, recommend you consider using a Timesert instead of a helicoil. A Timesert is a hole-thread-repair part similar in concept to a helicoil, but it's a single "tube" of steel, rather than a long spiral. Timeserts also require a slightly smaller hole than helicoils.

Yes Timeserts work very well, we used 100's in the all aluminum chassis for the Shelby American Series 1.

Thank you for the suggestions. I will check into the Timesert. This is why I posted the thread as I believe I was getting more and more frustrated and needed to step away from the car.

I am looking at the timeserts and noticed this with the helicoils as well. There is not a lot of room as I believe I would need a M6 insert, is this correct?