damn siezed bolts!!!

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trash man

who put the "S" in lisp?
so yesterday i spent my whole morning taking out all the suspension and brake stuff that i'm replacing, but i need some advice. all the front suspension came out no problemo, and the rear driver side came out fairly easy. i'm having one hell of a time getting the passenger side rear lca out...the bolt that holds the bottom of the strut to the lca broke on me, but since i'm replacing the whole lca anyways, i figured i could get around it by just taking it out in one piece. only problem i'm having is the inner bolt (the one closest to the brake caliper) is an absolute BITCH. i hit it with the wd40 and tapped on it for awhile, but i think it's starting to round off. the only thing i can get a good grip on it with is my standard size 14mm crescent wrench...my breaker bar just rolls right off it. anyone have any advice? and while we're on the siezed bolt topic, does anyone have any insight on getting the phillips screws on the rotors out? talk about tight.....

thanks in advance
chris
 
for the lca bolt, your going to need to cut it off. cut off the welded nut if applicable as well. use a cut off wheel. try to get as close as you can to the damper without damaging it's structural integrity. then use some brute force to pry the damper apart some and slide the lca off, or use another bolt and a hammer and try to force the cut stud out. i had to do this, and then rewelded the cut nut back onto the damper since i wasnt replacing it [yet]. i went with omni power lca's, what about you?

as far as the brake rotors screw. if you cant get it out with a large tip stubby phillips, or it's stripped, i just like using the bolt extractor. get a good hole drilled in it, jam the extractor in, tap it a few times with the hammer for good measure, attatch vice grip and twist.

when i redid my rear suspension, i broke ilke 5 bolts, on a 2000. consider yourself lucky.
 
damn dude, 5 on a 2000??? so far i've only broken 1 on a '93! i'm planning on going with the megan street coilovers and megan lca's. would i have to worry about the welded nuts though since i'm replacing all the components? don't the new lca's have welded nuts on them already? i'm probably gonna go ahead and replace the bolts themselves too with some new oem ones since the ones i took out were rusted up pretty bad. i'm just so pissed because if i could just get this one bolt out, i can just drop the whole thing with the damper attached. and how much do bolt extractors run? that might be the only option i have for the rotors since all four seem pretty locked up.
 
ya mine were rusted bad. i guess that's what our shitty air/envornment does around chicago/nw indiana. deffinatly replace them yes. titanium bolts are also a good option. they are not only corrosion resistant but lighter and stronger. oem ones run about 7 bucks a peice from honda. titanium is of course more expensive. i just got new oem all around.

you probably wont have to worry about welding it back on since your replacing it, yes. i would maybe tho incase you want a back up or sell/trade them one day. unless they're complete garbage lol.

bolt extractors are about 20 bucks for a set, but you can buy a single for like 6-7 bucks. menards, home depot, sears hardware, lowes, autozone, advanced, everybody's got them. it looks like a drill bit with reverse threads.
 
hey great, thanks for the reply. i'll head up to the lowes tomorrow after work and pick up a set of extractors....sounds like something to have around my garage because i'm sure this won't be the last time on this car i need to get a siezed bolt out. i thought my only option was just drilling it out and that would take forever.
 
o yeahhh. heat up the metal around the offending bolt. not the bolt itself. causes the metal to expand and break the corrosion bonds (hopefully). torch ftw.
 
This makes me feel good about putting my coilovers on. At least I'm getting new LCAs so I won't have to worry about reusing those.
 
good thing your upgradin and not reusing your old bolts..i was a bitch to get my skunk 2 coilovers on my rear DA suspension
 
I only broke one when I did LCAs and rear disc conversion on my EF, but for the rotor screws go to Autozone and rent a "Impact driver" Its a screwdriver that you hit with a hammer and turns when you hit it, should take them right out.;)
 
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