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Frozen bolts
General_Failure - March 27th, 2011 at 11:27 AM

G'day. I have a bit of a problem. It's with the manifold I'm putting on the subie motor. My problem is that I can't get the bolts to budge for the thermostat housing. Is there a good way of freeing up rusty steel bolts in an aluminium part?

I'm getting so close to having a properly functioning drive train for the first time in about seven years, so I'm getting a little impatient. Really all I have left is to swap the manifold, weld up a few exhaust pin holes, replace a seat belt, and replace a brake hard line, and do a bit of engine bay cleanup work and I could scrape through blue slip probably. I don't intend on doing that unless the ford carks it, but I'll have the option.

hellbugged - March 27th, 2011 at 11:49 AM

"wurth" rost off ice

matberry - March 27th, 2011 at 02:19 PM

Yep, Wurth brand , Rost Off is what we use, although I'm about to try Gibbs Brand, is meant to be unbelievable.

vwo60 - March 27th, 2011 at 03:31 PM

At work we use a product called yeild, works very well in the marine enviorment, it even works on stainless steel stoping any gauling or binding, very expensive

General_Failure - March 27th, 2011 at 05:22 PM

Excellent. So where can I start my hunt for these products?

vwo60 - March 27th, 2011 at 06:45 PM

You could try a bearing supplier like CBC bearings or a engineering supply company, i bought 4 cans of yeild at a flea market for $5 each because the guy had no idea what it was.

hellbugged - March 27th, 2011 at 06:48 PM

hardware stores.......mitre 10 has wurth

General_Failure - March 28th, 2011 at 06:20 AM

Both a bit challenging. Mitre 10 is small but maybe if I ask nicely they could get it. I'll try the trade supply place first. I know there is a bearing place here and another hardware store here but for some reason i can only ever find them when I don't want them.
Well, it's pay day tomorrow so i'll start my hunt then. Can't wait to get these bolts off. I stuck my finger in the outlet pipe and couldn't feel a thermostat, so it's really important I get this done.

matberry - March 28th, 2011 at 08:18 AM

Take a pic of the bolts in question, maybe someone can give some input, as no product is magic, and they all take some time to penetrate. Is the housing metal or plastic, cast or not etc etc. You may just need to give a nice accurate hit on the head with a good blow (with a hammer) may not loosen the bolt but I normally feel better afterwards.:lol:

1303Steve - March 28th, 2011 at 02:13 PM

Hi

The adjustment on the struts on my sons bug froze really badly. I heard Don Burke talking about some stuff that Bunnings sell called Reducteur. After I tried everything else I had the Reducteur worked almost straight away.

The adjustment on the struts is 2 dissimilar metals like your having a problem with, steel and aluminium, apparently that's what this stuff excels at. http://www2.blackwoods.com.au/infoBANKProduct.aspx?SG=2000165&S=4084721&a...

Steve

General_Failure - March 28th, 2011 at 09:20 PM

That is interesting information.

I ended up picking up an aerosol of "inox". Even though it's meant to be sprayed on daily for maybe a week I decided to have another go at it after a few hours. With some straining and a healthy crack they gave. Guess it was just that little bit that was needed.
I considered percussion manually or via rattle gun, but because of the parts shape it's really hard to avoid damaging it. Apparently it sort of had a thermostat, in a vague sense. The flat outer ring bit was still there. There was a fragment of some kind of tab left flapping and the thermostat had been torn off. I have no idea why anyone would do this. Lucky I checked.

Anyway to answer, both housing and manifold were both aluminium, with steel bolts in it.

matberry - March 28th, 2011 at 10:02 PM

Cool that you had a win.
The Gibbs Brand penetrant arrived today and I have already tried it on a steel grub screw siezed in a stainless thread with great results quite quickly. I have it for sale if antone is interested. I presently have a few jobs testing it for it's rust removal properties where og paint is being restored. I'll keep you posted.

Here's a link
http://www.gibbsbrandaustralia.com/ 

General_Failure - March 29th, 2011 at 06:27 PM

There would have been much angry yelling and possibly some tears shed if something happened like a napped bolt or casting. Cleaned it up this arvo best I could, hacked up the horrid universal gasket so it fit, and shoved it all together. Can't wait to try it, but I have to. It'll be another week or two before I can. In the mean time I guess I could be spraying the manifold to head bolts so it all goes smoothly on the day.

1303Steve - March 29th, 2011 at 10:43 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by General_Failure
Apparently it sort of had a thermostat, in a vague sense. The flat outer ring bit was still there. There was a fragment of some kind of tab left flapping and the thermostat had been torn off. I have no idea why anyone would do this. Lucky I checked.


Hi

That is a common temporary roadside repair when a thermostat fails in the closed position, I do it all the time in my line of work. We don't have the room to carry every part for every car or quick access to a spare parts store.

Steve

General_Failure - March 30th, 2011 at 09:48 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1303Steve
Quote:
Originally posted by General_Failure
Apparently it sort of had a thermostat, in a vague sense. The flat outer ring bit was still there. There was a fragment of some kind of tab left flapping and the thermostat had been torn off. I have no idea why anyone would do this. Lucky I checked.


Hi

That is a common temporary roadside repair when a thermostat fails in the closed position, I do it all the time in my line of work. We don't have the room to carry every part for every car or quick access to a spare parts store.

Steve


I thought that'd be for the type that has the integrated rubber ring thing. Without the thermostat part this is just a flat brass ring with an ugly hole slightly off center.