93civic2005

I'm in the middle of an attempt at an AT-MT swap in my 93 Civic. I've cracked off some tough bolts with a 5 foot pipe, but I can't seem to get those driveplate bolts off. The bolt head is so shallow that the socket always pops off before I can apply any good amount of torque. Does anyone have suggestions for what I can do to keep the socket on the bolt head? Would the same thing happen if I had an impact wrench? Would a box-end wrench give me a better shot at it than a socket + breaker bar? Any help is appreciated.

EG2Driver

get someone to put pressure on it so it doesn't pop off

gezzuzz

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DeadEnd9009 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">get someone to put pressure on it so it doesn't pop off</TD></TR></TABLE>


also hit them with a hammer HARD right in the center

93civic2005

I tried holding the socket on with my foot while my friend torqued it, but no luck.

gezzuzz

if you dont have air tools get a hand impact driver $10 at autozone



if you take the black part if the front its a 1/2 socket.. you hit the back and it works like a air impact

93civic2005

How hard do you have to hit it? I tried one, but I can't get much effort on the hammer while I'm upside down and holding the thing.

gezzuzz

you have to hit hard.. when you hit down it turns.. make sure its turning the right way.. i assume the motor is in teh car right?

93civic2005

Yeah I guess that further complicates things. I didn't pull the motor, and I really don't want to. I actually have a side question for the impact driver. If I push down on it, the silver (shank?) part slides down and clockwise. That would be like tightening a bolt. However I did use it to loosen a bolt, so I assume it is set correctly? I'm not sure how to adjust it if it isn't. I see two arrows with an L or an R next to them, but I can't figure out what I actually need to do. So far I tried putting it on the bolt head (with a socket of course) and turning it hard to the left before hitting it with the hammer. Is this correct?

gezzuzz

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 93civic2005 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> So far I tried putting it on the bolt head (with a socket of course) and turning it hard to the left before hitting it with the hammer. Is this correct?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes..

i agree its confussing took me a while to get it too the first time..

use a maul..

93civic2005

Man, this is not working out. I got a box-end wrench. It stays on the bolt head better than the socket, but I still can't turn those bolts. I tried using a jack to turn the wrench. It lifted the engine maybe an inch before the wrench finally fell off. This is bs. How hard would it be to grind off the bolt heads? *bangs head*

Oh yeah, also I figure it was maybe lifting half of the engine weight, since the engine is still on the mounts. Figure 200 lbs with a lever arm of 6 inches. That gives me 100 ft-lbs. Seems a little low, but either way I've got to do better than that. I'll try a pipe on the end of the wrench tomorrow...

(But seriously, how hard to grind them off?)

dem0nk1d

I usually use a impact driver on the screws that hold the brake rotors on. But before I use the impact driver. I place a ball ping hammer, on top of the screw and hit the backside of the ball ping, with a normal hammer. Thus shocking the screw and making it alot easier. Usually if I don't shock it, I will just break bits.

Tzarinque

wtf is a driveplate. Are you talking about the 12 point flywheel bolts. I just got done doing my flywheel.clutch.tranny swap and i ran into the same problem. I too didn't remove my engine. If you are talking about the 12 point flywheel bolts, use a closed end 17mm 12 point wrench, put a pipe on the wrench. Make sure to torque them to 87 ft/lbs. Whether or not you're talking about the same thing, use a wrench on shallow bolts

tietze

I know what you are talking about, those bolt heads are shallow and most sockets and wrenches have a taper at the very end to allow them to slip onto bolts easily.

I used the side of a grinding wheel, (flat surface) to take off the first 1/8 inch of a 17mm 12point socket and the bolts came out easy.


Modified by tietze at 6:31 AM 1/11/2007

Syndacate

I have to agree with gezzuzz, impact is about your only bet...otherwise you're just spinning your wheels if you're cracking the bolt heads off like that.

I hate rust .

Even on my mom's 4runner when changing the PLUGS the air intake arm had to be moved and where it bolts to the rad support, I gave that like half a twist with a 8" ratchet to loosen it and the head broke right off . And her car's a '98.

93civic2005

A driveplate is the automatic version of the manual flywheel. The bolts look the same as flywheel bolts. Note: I'm not trying to be arrogant or anything, but I know what torque is, and I know how to use a pipe extension.

Can anyone tell me how to grind the bolt heads off? I don't care about the bolts or the driveplate, as long as I can get them off.

gezzuzz

did you try a air inpact gun (a big one)? you can try grinding them off.. this will take a while.. as long as they are to bottomed out you sould be able to take them out by hand after that... get a good grinder and a stone disk.. theres 8 going to take a long time..

jjspec

Use a good quality (i.e. Snap on,etc) 12 point 17 mm socket and an impact wrench. Have someone push on the back of the impact wrench to hold it on the bolt tightly and square. Use a new socket, not one that is worn or you will have a hard time.

chrisw85

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 93civic2005 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">A driveplate is the automatic version of the manual flywheel. The bolts look the same as flywheel bolts. Note: I'm not trying to be arrogant or anything, but I know what torque is, and I know how to use a pipe extension.

Can anyone tell me how to grind the bolt heads off? I don't care about the bolts or the driveplate, as long as I can get them off. </TD></TR></TABLE>

http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/fpt3801a.html thats what i'd use or something similar if you wanted to grind them off.

Tzarinque

Take a grinder and grind them off, that's all there is too it. You'll probably need something bigger than a dremel, more like a grinding wheel. But since you are doing an AT-MT converision it doesn't matter if you knick the driveplate. Otherwise drill them out(not to deep though they're only abnoutan inch long) then hit them with a hammer.

93civic2005

You rich people and your air tools lol - I'm a poor college student. But good news!! I managed to remove all 6 bolts today, thanks to the good Lord, a large pipe, and several pieces of wood. I had to brace the engine on the front and right sides with wood to keep it from twisting when I torqued the bolts. Here's a pic of how I braced the wrench with a piece of wood jammed between it and the frame of the car in order to keep the wrench from slipping off the bolt head. Included in bottom of the pic is my lucky 1.5" pipe.

Click here for that pic.

Thanks to everyone for their help. Now to finish this swap!!


Modified by 93civic2005 at 3:32 PM 1/11/2007


Modified by 93civic2005 at 3:33 PM 1/11/2007

jtchinoy

if you're talking about the 6 in the middle, have a friend put a wrench to your crankshaft bolt (in loosening direction) as a counter, also put a foot against the pulley itself for more counter. take a wrench to the bolt. there's 2 ways to do it i think.

1 is hold the middle of the wrench and apply pressure to keep it on the bolt then hammer the other end. (did this to crack my brake bolts)

the 1 we did was use a ratchet with breaker bar, once again pushing down on part of the handle to keep it on. 87 lbs or torque FTL

If you never removed your crankshaft bolt before, even better. If you read, the crankshaft bolt is often seized so you don't have to worry about it loosening I removed mine before so it unfortunately come off once, lol.