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WILL2 is correct, but so that you have a better idea of what he mentioned, I'll explain further: The easy-out is a tool that requires you to very carefully drill a hole in the center of the broken bolt. Shouldn't be too difficult drilling since the bolt's metal is softened from the heat of the exhaust, however you may need an angle drill OR a very small drill to do the job. I suggest using a slow speed drill and a small size drill bit initially. You're also going to have to remove whatever is in the way of the drill so that the drill bit will be perfectly aligned to drill a straight hole. *(In V-8 engine American Vehicles I have found it easier to just place a jack stand under the front wheel of whatever side of the engine that needs drilling, pull the wheel off and remove the wheel well to have full access than to wrestle with an angle drill. However. this technique won't work with your vehicle. You'd have to do a major body disassembly to get that Nissan wheel well out of the way!) If one of the lower bolts is broken in the block, and you can't fit a small drill into proper position, your only other option is to use an angle drill. Oh, I suppose that you could pull the engine out but who wants to do that just to drill two bolts out?
The easy-out tool is inserted into that hole and grips the broken bolt allowing you to twist the tool counter-clockwise thus removing the bolt. Well, things usually don't go that easily, especially if you don't have experience doing this kind of work. Drilling the hole dead center is damn near impossible. Chances are 50/50 that you won't be able to dead center the hole and damaged threads will probably result. Yes, you can still get the broken bolt out but now what to do about the damaged threads? Use your own judgement to determine if there is enough there to bring a new bolt up to torque. Nothing to lose...if the new bolt strips the damaged threads out then read on.
If the threads are damaged you may have to install a Heli-Coil. That requires you to drill out the damaged threads with a drill bit designed in size for whatever size Heli-Coil is required to do the thread repair. In drilling out the threads go just deep enough to remove the original threads so as not to drill all the way into the water jacket! The Heli-Coil kit supplies a thread tapper to tap new oversized threads into the hole. The Heli-Coil will be screwed into the oversized threads with a plastic wingnut looking handle. The inside diameter of the Heli-Coil will be the same size as the original threads. Don't forget to break-off that "tang" on the end of the Heli-Coil after the coil is fully inserted. In deep holes I've actually inserted two Heli-Coils: one behind the other.
No matter what you have to do to get the repair done, just think of it as "a learning experience." Still cheaper than paying somebody else to do it for you and you'll probably have stuff left over for future repairs.
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09-18-2005, 10:12 AM
