B-serius

I was torque-ing my cams and tightening them in the recommended sequence and am 100% sure it was being done properly, all of a sudden the bolt in the very middle top on the intake cam side snaps and half of it is left inside the engine. my dumbass friend says he knows how to fix it and drills into the hole, shredding up the screw and ****ing up the thread, what do i do???????

98civdx

buy a new cam, or re thread it if you can??
smack your friend

40mpg_dx00

You're talking about the cam holders. Was it one of the smaller bolts at the very end? I know it was. They have a lower torque than the rest of the bolts. In the future, use some oil on the threads during assembly. You might have been lucky enough to be able to back it out. Buy a new head. You can't just take a drill to the head. who does that?

B-serius

the cam is fine but the hole in the head is effed. theres 12 of them per cam so im thinking about just leaving it out, do u know if this will
work???

40mpg_dx00

Yea. That's just an extra bolt to hold the engine together.
Be serious B-serius. Hahaha
You gotta replace the head man. If you ride as is it will fail and when it fails it will take everything else with it. Head, cams, valves, and more.
I can't say when it will fail but I know there is no such thing as an extra bolt under the valve cover

40mpg_dx00

Boo this man. You can't tell him to rethread a cam. that's just crazy

B-serius

there was another user under the name "b-serious" so i couldnt use it. and what type of experience do you have with engine anyways??? and im pretty sure re-threading it would work, thanks for the advice tho

tehteg

It should be able to screw right out. I had the same problem a couple weeks ago, only my friend broke 2. The first one screwed out with a small flat head (dont use a big one and screw up your threads). The one on the front side had to have the top leveled off with a dremmel because it broke at a nasty angle. Then start a dent or spot in the center, get a left-hand drill bit, and drill at the center of the bolt and it should come right out (I suggest covering around where metal shavings could get into the engine).Worse comes to worse you will have to re-thread if you mess it up bad enough. Don't drive your car like that! Especially with 1 bolt holding that cam holder. Unless you want to buy new parts...Good luck

B-serius

hey thanks, looks like im going to have to re-thread because the threads are shredded but why do those bolts break so easily???

98civdx

read what he wrote its not the cam, its the cam cap. oh and yes you can, uncle did it ran fine.

DONT DRIVE IT, yea its only one bolt, but, when your talking that cam is spinning 4-5000+rpms thats alot of stress,
give rethreading it a shot, just be really carefull you dont screw it up more then it is,
dont ever let your buddy work on your again hes a idiot.
also you shold really be clearer when you post things,.

look how tiny those bolts are, thats way the break so easly, plus it most likly the original bolt. what where you tourqing them to? im pretty sure its only a few pounds.

tehteg

If you don't already have it they sell the kits in stores for rethreading. What were you torquing those bolts to anyway?

B-serius

yeah im def not "rethreading the cam" wtf. but I finally found a solution. I was talking to the guys in the TECH forums and one of them told me use a "helicoil" kit which is one of the best tools on the market for Threading. Im also going to order new bolts for those cam plates (i dont want any more breaking in the head)

stallion1515

Damn, this crap happened to me tonight. I was ALMOST finished torquing the cam down after installing a new cam seal w/ rtv. I got a late start after a long day and ran out of daylight and was mostly working by feel. Everything was going great until the front stud from the E2 cam holder (second cam holder on the right) decided to snap like a twig mid-torque! WTH! I hadn't even torqued it to 20 ft-lbs!

dirty19

iTrader: (1)

Just so we have more updated information,here is what I recommend instead of using a helicoil.

Watch the vids and yes you can buy a kit for just about any size bolt.
One drawback is its not a cheap fix but its permanent.
I've used these a few times and these wont back out!

http://www.timesert.com/html/install.html#A

stallion1515

Thanks, man. I'll check out that link, but I just hope and pray I'm able to get the bolt out ok in the morning.

strategy400

You can also dremel a groove and use a flat head screwdriver to coax it out. Just don't get dremel dust in your engine. Mask it off like a surgeon.

stallion1515

I don't have Dremel, but I had a bolt extractor kit that I purchased a couple of months ago to remove a stripped t30 steering wheel airbag bolt. I used the bolt extractor here, and it worked, rather than buying a left-handed drill bit, although the left-handed drill bit would work, too. Make sure to remove all the cam cover bolts so you can remove the specific cam cover harboring the snapped bolt then drill into it with the correct size bit (I used a 3/32" bit). Mask off the area to prevent drill shavings from getting in the engine and use a magnet to remove the shavings from the hole as you go along. Once you're about 1/3 to 1/2 way drilled into the snapped bolt, hammer in the correct size bolt extractor (my extractor bit was 5/64"-1/4" range), use a wrench or vice grip to turn extractor counter clockwise until the snapped bolt comes out, and be very careful and methodical when torquing down the new bolt (if you can find one...the stealership was out, but I found a local nuts and bolts shop that had the correct size). I hope no one has to go through this, but if you do, I hope this helps. It's definitely doable, just a total hassle.