big trouble with swapping to rear disks

[bluejcivic]

so i started to swap out the rear controls arms on my 94 si and i got my self into quite a pickle. when removing the rear trailing arm, me and my friend managed to break 3 out of the 4 bolts that hold that huge bushing in. we tired to drill it but it eats my drill bits like their made of chocolate lol. has anyone every broke these before? any suggestion on how to fix? i was thinking of cutting the piece out and welding a nut on a piece of plate steel and welding that back in my car.

 

[99sidude]

Unless you can do it perfectly, welding a plate with new nuts will throw off the suspension geometry of the car. I high end cobalt drill bit will work much better on those case hardened bolts than a standard high speed steel bit. You might want to try that. Just make sure you don't drill out the threads of the weld nuts on the body.

You may be able to replace those weld nuts somehow from the inside of the vehicle. Just don't ask me how...

 

[phyregod]

That is bad bad news. You need to soak them down in WD-40 or something similar and let it sit for a while, then soak them again.. Run to the store and get a Carbide drill bit and a matching easy-out. (Bolt Extractor, screw out, whatever you want to call it). Get good high quality stuff, just those two items are going to run you $25, but they are well worth it.

Soak it again, let it sit.. As long as you can, just keep soaking it every hour or so. Then with a very steady hand, drill out the center of the bolt being very careful not to slip and damage the body or welded in nut.. And extract it with the easy out. You could also add some heat (maybe a heat gun, not fire) but don't add much, because the metal will lose its temper and you will have a very weak suspension mounting point, which would be bad.

Just be slow, be patient, and work carefully. Because if you screw that mounting point up, you are going to have to do major surgery to fix it.

 

[bluejcivic]

i spent $45 on bits and it got me 3 millimeters lol. i heard from someone who broke that same bolt, and they cut out some sheet metal under the rear seats and were able to get at the welded nuts. i think im gonna try that today

 

[bluejcivic]

my buddy suggested he weld in studs, considering the stud has about an inch of penetration in the chassis, i thought it was a good idea, and it worked perfect.

 

[dc231581]

how about new lcas or used integra (94-01) lcas

 

[phyregod]

my buddy suggested he weld in studs, considering the stud has about an inch of penetration in the chassis, i thought it was a good idea, and it worked perfect.

Good luck with that.