I had a nice surprise yesterday, I went to take the doors off my '66 baja, only to find that all the phillips head bolts that attach the hinges to the pillar are chewed out. It looks like a bit of a challenge to get them out.

Should I pray for an act of god? or is there a man-made miracle that can get these out?

I used this technique for 2 chewed out phllips head bolts on the drop sides of my SC ute under resto.
Hold a nut over the top of the bolt. Either use a magnet or weld a length of wire to a flat & hold it over manually. I found a leftover cylinder head bolt is good. I used max setting but maybe you could experiment usein a vice.
The object is to fill the hole in the nut with weld. It's vital to let it cool completely go to lunch or overnight. Then put a spanner on it & unscrew.

That's how I guessed it would be done, it's just that the inner ones on a beetle are recessed, and it looks a bit tricky.

screw removers have a thread opisite to that of, well screws. they dig in and rip em out. screws the screw but then it is already screwed
any hardware shop has em

Pat have you tried using an impact driver on the screws. Sometimes you can get away with it if there is a small amount of shoulder left in the Philipshead screw.

Other that, the EZ outs way to go. Make sure you get a big one. 14yo is right , if they snap off in the hole yer screwed.
Dean

Use an impact driver. It is a funny device that holds screw driver bits in the end, and the you belt it with a hammer. When you hit it, it turns. Great for undoing tough screws.

Pat if you need to borrow one let me know. :thumb

Thanks for the offer, but one of my friends is already gonna lend me his one. Not sure if it will work though, as they look like some idiot has really butchered them.

As for EZouts, I've tried them on other stuff and never had any luck with bolts that are done up really tight (like door hinge bolts). If the impact driver doesn't work it looks like I'll have to break out the MIG.

Ezy-outs. I confirm all the above- DON'T trust'em! I only use them when it's safe-ie I know they'll work because the thread is not 100% siezed.
Impact screwdrivers are ok BUT don't use the Queen Mother of hammers & swing it like Conan the Barbarian- You'll end up with a submerged crater around the screw esp on the door posts.

If all else fails, carefully drill the centre out of the screws with a drill bit just undersize of the thread, then retap the thread. I had to do this on all screws that hold the cargo doors on my mate's splitty.

Alan

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll let you know how I go.

You can always just weld a screwdriver onto the screw:vader

Works well and with a mig you can get into most places.
:kiss

Never underestimate the need to destroy tools to get a VW apart

I have to replace one of My heads on My 68AutoBug due to the exhaust studs breaking off, and then I tried to get them out with Very High Quality Ezi-Outs.... Well.. I bought Titanium drill bits... they wouldn't even mark the broken off ezi-outs... I should have just drilled them out and retapped the holes... Oh well.. live & learn... and make sure You spray the rear of those screws with WD40 for a day or two.... as they are normally as tight as.... Well Bl**dy tight.... I have never seen a loose one.... Best of Luck...

I've just used the MIG technique to remove another couple of demons: the 8mm square headed grub screws that lock up the gear shift rods. I had to destroy a perfectly good coupling at the front of the tranny to do it too. Does anyone know if these can still be purchased?
Needless to say I'm going to replace them with heavily greased allen head bolts.

Pat, how did you get on?? Did the impact priver do the trick or did you have to revert to other means.