Broken waterpump bolts

B

bucmaster

Member
Hi ,Im a newbie to team buick great website .I am reburnishing a 65 buick leasbre 355 wildcat motor .Can anyone tell me what is the best way to extract the 3 - 7/16 bolts on the top side of the waterpump.Opps ya they snapped ,I figuired my luck was about to run out .I have enough grip with 2 of them if I use a sm vise grip ,but I am doubting myself as I dont want to damage or have to remove the aluminum timing cover .Can I use some heat ,propane Or just grin & bear and Ill have to drill them .Any help is appreciated Ps Im in no hurry just want the best possible solution .thanks bucmaster
 
My humble opinion

I have had great luck in heating with propane or acety/oxy if you have it. I have yet to have it fail me as long as something can grab it.
Soak with PB Blaster first, it wont fire up either.
 
Thanks Patrick J ,I will try the blaster with some heat .Im going to grind one flat then drill a small hole try the an ez out as I dont have anything to grip on. This car has had the second pump on it as it looks like it was replaced years ago .Original 60,000 miles 65 lesabre 2dr hdtp with fact. buckets & console .engine purrrrrrrrrs 300 with the 355 wildcat air cleaner .4bll carter .Does this sound right? I just want to get her back up to runniable standards .Car sat in storage for twenty years .Bearing on the pump was wobbling,so decided to replace .Its my medication for my mid life years bought at an auction ,what fun & how some people (family) just dont understand .Sorry for rambling bucmaster
 
Indeed

Mid life crisis eh? well you have good therapy going there. I think that if I were in midlife then I will live to be 108. But here it too is medicine. I go in the am for my 2nd cardiac cath, April 3 for endarterectomy. So I spent today with my 16 yr old working on my 66 buick.
Everything sounds about right with your car. I/we would gladly look at the photos of your car.:thumbsup:
Family not understanding is not a fun thing I would imagine. My wife of 30 yrs loves the classics too. She also goes nuts when I ramble.
Have fun with your car.
 
PatrickJ,thanks for the boost I wont be doing anymore without asking first .I have a great neighbor who is a infinit tec so he has alot of extracting type tools.I just need to get these broken bolts out without further damage .Someday IM sure Ill have to put a chain in her but would rather run it for the summer months.You know we only get 3mon.of nice cruising days huhhhhhhh ,ok maybe 5 here in Wisconsin. Anyway I will be thinking of you Apr 3 and stay postive Im 54 and the health issues are or have been creeping up take care bucmaster
 
If you decide to use some heat, I'd stick with propane. Acetylene burns way too hot for aluminum. It's real easy to melt what your trying to heat as aluminum doesn't really turn red like iron does when it gets hot. One second its there, the next it's dripping to the floor. Been there done that.
 
thanks BigRivy,You must have been reading the brain cause that was going to be next question .never dealt with heat on alum..Thanks for the response back ,I just have a propane and kind of limited .like I say have the neighbor to help just need some time .Sometimes other people dont like getting into your busted problems so you just gotta go for the gusto.Long as i can destud it I can run bolts through & nut the bolts from behind .Thanks again bucmaster
 
Sounds like you're on your way to getting it fixed.

Obviously it depends on the situation/location, but as a future reference, I've found that if you've simply snapped off the head of the bolt, or still have a little 'bit of the bolt to work with, you can weld a nut onto the end and then try again. Sometimes the indirect heat from the weld will help to free it up, but if not, propane does a good job too!

Hope you had some luck in getting it fixed!
 
Ask your neighbor if he has a stud extractor that worked on mine.I also used a 3/8 impact set on low and let it rattle the bolts. Only broke 1.:thumbsup:
 
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