Water pump woes on a 300

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djdoubleplay

Newbie
Hi all! I was cruising along this evening replacing the water pump on my '66 Skylark and proceeded to snap off 2 of the 3 smaller bolts holding the pump onto the timing chain cover. Everything else came off fine. The larger bolts that go the whole way through are fine. Any ideas as to what the best way to get out these bolts without destroying the timing chain cover? They are all sheared off flush with the timing chain cover...I am fairly new to this (car mechanics), but this really seemed straightforward and I am really bummed out about this delay....since I am sending that car out to the paint shop Wednesday afternoon and would like the car to be running when I send it out.
Thanks for any help!
 
broken waterpump bolts

Having gone through this a year ago ,I feel your pain . Best way to extract the broken studs is have the new pump still off of the car ,then start drilling with a small drill bit .You can use an extractor ,and some heat from a propane torch .On one of mine I drilled all the way through with a bit that was just a tad smaller than the hole .With heat you can try reversing the drill ,& luckly it will grab the remainder of the bolt . With a tap & die kit ,you can clean up the threads with a matching tap to those threads . Just take your time ,as you want to do it right .You also can drill these out & put a bolt with a nut attached to the back if so desired .I dont know if a nut will work on every hole though . Good luck bucmaster. Ps Make sure to use new hardened bolts as they will come out the next time around .
 
Good luck, hope it worked. The beauty of drill bits and tap & die sets is you can usually make a bigger hole for a bigger bolt, or a helicoil.
 
djdoubleplay said:
thanks for the info...I'm going to go at it tomorrow. I'll let you know how it turns out.
!
Click to expand...

when drilling-out a broken bolt in an attempt to then rethread with a tap, it is essential that the drilled hole is dead center in the broken bolt. if you drill it off center you may not be able to save the hole by tapping or, better yet, helicoiling it. one way to insure the hole is centered is to install the water pump with a couple of bolts then use the correct size transfer punch ( for a 1/4 bolt hole in the pump use either a 1/4 punch or a slightly larger 5/16 punch ) to center-punch the broken bolt. you could also try a bolt with the end ground to a point as a transfer punch.

one thing you have to be very careful about is not drilling to deep into the lower water pump holes, to the point you drill all the way through the cover. I saw this done on a 455 and it allowed coolent to go into chain side of the cover and ultimately into the oil.

it is not that difficult to remove the cover ( you don't even need a puller for the balancer ) and would probably be worth the trouble to ensure a good repair.
 
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