95 civic ex, 5 speed. No front arm rest.

I'm trying to remove the two screws that are under that plastic cap you have to pop off below the e brake handle. I tried screwdrivers, but they are sooo lodged in there it strips them out. I let some Liquid Wrench soak in there all night around the threads, but it didn't help at all. I got some locking pliers and was able to twist one of them up slowly, but not very far before it started slipping again. So I resorted to drilling them out and using an epoxy to hold it back together when said and done. However, that's taking forever. Is there any better way to remove stuck screws besides a screw extractor? I'm trying to replace my shift boot, and it's pissing me off that I can't get these screws out.

Also, any tips on replacing the shift boot?

 

One of the issues you may have run into is those screws require a larger phillips screwdriver bit. Standard size bit for phillips is a #2. Those screws need a #3. Using a #2 on those two screws is very likely to strip the heads. I'm willing to bet you used your average phillips screwdriver and it was not large enough to fit the head thus couldn't provide the torque needed to remove them.

Once stripped, you will probably be stuck with drilling and re-tapping the screw holes and finding two new screws to put in. I would not epoxy the things down, the next time you have to pull the console it will be an even worse mess and could potentially require new plastic console pieces by the time you are done.

If you have a dremel you could cut a slice across the top to use a large flat tip, and I mean biiiig flat tip screwdriver.

 

I used a screw extractor on one of them and it came out quite easily. The other one didn't work, and I'm just gonna drill off the head so i can slide the piece up over the stud left behind.