07-05-2017, 06:39 AM
What took a big chunk of time today was repairing a major cock-up that the previous owner of my ute (or their mechanic) had left behind. One of the studs had been broken and then in their attempt to drill it out they had slipped off and drilled into the head. They then tried to compensate with some creative stupidity, leaving one stepped and ragged hole 
.
Like most V-6 vehicles, there is next to no room to get any tooling in to work, and I had wanted to get lined up on the broken stud and also perpendicular to the manifold face. So, I made up a plate to bolt on and allow me to line up on the hole and then use a drill bush to drill out the stud. Nice and easy - yeah, right. After fighting my 90° air drill I removed the plate to find that what I thought was the stud wasn't and that I had drilled parallel to it. So, I switched to a 6.8mm drill bit and then tapped for M8 x 1.25. I then had to modify the manifold and have installed the stud with a generous application of high strength Loc-Tite. I still have to put the gearbox back in (new clutch, thrust bearing and pilot bush), so the exhaust will go on last. That stud should be rock solid by the time I tighten up the nut that goes on it.
Tomorrow, I will attack the matching broken stud on the other side. At least that one they didn't bother trying to fix, so I shouldn't have as much trouble!
Some pics:
. Like most V-6 vehicles, there is next to no room to get any tooling in to work, and I had wanted to get lined up on the broken stud and also perpendicular to the manifold face. So, I made up a plate to bolt on and allow me to line up on the hole and then use a drill bush to drill out the stud. Nice and easy - yeah, right. After fighting my 90° air drill I removed the plate to find that what I thought was the stud wasn't and that I had drilled parallel to it. So, I switched to a 6.8mm drill bit and then tapped for M8 x 1.25. I then had to modify the manifold and have installed the stud with a generous application of high strength Loc-Tite. I still have to put the gearbox back in (new clutch, thrust bearing and pilot bush), so the exhaust will go on last. That stud should be rock solid by the time I tighten up the nut that goes on it.
Tomorrow, I will attack the matching broken stud on the other side. At least that one they didn't bother trying to fix, so I shouldn't have as much trouble!
Some pics:
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