I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: front cross brace bolts and nuts
Hi Everyone,
Thank you for taking the time to read this we appreciate any advice given! my friend and I have a track day in a weeks time and seem to have a bit on an issue on our hands.
We swapped out our manifold for an IL motorsport 4-1 and all was going so well until trying to put some of the bolts back into the front cross brace. Long story short two of the retaining nuts have sheared off and the 19mm bolt is completely stripped, not due to rust either but simply because the thing simply wouldn’t turn…. Has anyone had a similar experience and if so how can I get it off? And secondly is the cross brace structural? I ask the second question because we have limited amount of between now and the track day and if the two bolts in question being loose do not cause any safety issues then is it safe to drive and sort out after?
I have attached a pic, the two green bolts are the ones which the retaining nuts have snapped and the red one is the 19mm bolt that is quite long (I know this as we got the driver side one out)
I have used the technique for broken bolts for many years. Soak with a release agent and leave for 24 hours. Carefully drill into the fractured stud with a small drill slowly increasing the sizes to the correct width for the extractor. Heat the stud with a hobby gas blow lamp, take care there is nothing flammable in the way, water-soaked towels can help protect items. Use the blow lamp for a full five minutes then squirt release oil onto the stud. Insert the extraction tool and hopefully, the stud will come out. If not, drill out the stud and retap the thread. There are mobile companies that can offer this service to you. Good luck! Thread Wizard
Thanks for the response Steve, much appreciated! The 19mm bolt while stripped is still torqued to spec and holding the brace in place, along with another 17mm bolt that on the same side - if I give the the brace a pull there is not really any movement so it’s definitely still bolted in place, just lacking these 2 extra reinforcing bolts - do you think it likely in this case it would still compromise rigidity? Many thanks in advance
I am not sure what you mean by stripped if you know that the bolt is still torqued to spec. I don’t think you will be able to pull as hard as the chassis will when it is twisting; probably the best thing is to drive it and see if it feels OK.
Fair point didn’t think of it in that way. Sorry wrong terminology, the 19mm bolt is stuck fast and in attempts to remove it the bolt head has rounded, resulting in it being unremovable, hence it is firmly in place
