383 V:
Might be a hunkin' frame but the location of the needed repair is real close to where the impact sensors are located, just 7-10 inches away from the support bolt, they designed this area to crumple, triggering the sensors during impact to set off the air bags, I would think cutting the frame in any way in that region could possibly cause issues since it was already designed to be the weakest link.


BOWTIE: Try this before hacking the bolt off:

The nut may be fine and not spinning, the bolt may be stripped of its threads close to the head causing the thing to spin and make you think the nut is turning, pry up on the bracket while backing out the bolt and see what happens, you might get lucky. If you have a helper pry up on the bracket while you zap the thing with a impact and make sure its turning counter clockwise, you just might be in luck......

If that don't work, try this:
Same as above but use heat from a propane torch to heat the nut up through the oval hole in the frame then pry up on the support while zapping it with an impact gun

Lastly: Grind the head of the bolt off, once off, drill into the center of the bolt, gradually increasing drill size until a replacement bolt could be dropped into place, use a open end wrench with a nut and lock washer glued to it on an angle, fishing it through the oval hole and make sure you use a lock washer so that when the bolt is tightened, the lock washer will stall the nut once it contacts it so it can then be tightened. Gonna take some mechanical ability but certainly doable.

 

BOWTIE350,

Any progress on your project?

 

How about this as a solution, drill a hole on the opposite side of the frame which would be the bottom big enough for a socket on a long extension. that would enable you to get at the nut for loosening and tightening. Then you could weld a patch over the hole when you are done. Access to the bottom may be easier.

 

Well as some of you had mentioned, I did manage to get the front bolt installed onto a new nut. I dremeled the bolt head off, then via the oval access hole, I taped a new nut to the end of an opened ended wrench and finally got the replacement bolt to find it. Taping the nut to the wrench really made it easier than I thought.

However, the bolt towards the rear is not going to be that easy. The bottom of the bolt can not be reached through the oval access hole. When I try to reach for it, I find something in the frame blocking my fingers. It almost feels like a rectangle beam is welded inside before I can get to the rear bolt. Besides, the angle and distance is just to far to reach through the oval hole.

I am definitely going to use a rivet nut for the rear bolt. Thanks Kenv for the Jegs p/n. I did not even think to check them out. I could not find any rivet nuts in Summit.

I’ll let you all know how the rivet nut works out once I order the tool kit.

Thanks.

 

With regards to ZRWHAT's comment. The nut welded inside the frame was definitely broken off the welds.

I wedged all sorts of things bolt and could not get keep the nut inside the frame from spinning so I grabbed the dremel and took out my frustration cutting the head off that bolt.

And the rectangle beam I found when I reached toward rear bolt, maybe this could be part of the crimple zone design. I don’t know... All I know is I don’t like the idea of cutting into this area of the frame since I still have the rivet nut option.

 

Hey Ed, my comment, which you took out of context, was followed by an suggestion of how the op could resolve his problem, part of which he followed by taping a nut to his wrench. And what suggestions did you have to help him out?

 

In post #8 is where 383vett helped. I don’t mind him or anyone else joking around as long as they had something useful to say. In fact I did exactly what 383vett said in order to fix 1 of the 2 bolts. BTW, thanks 383vett for the tip.

 

I looked at the ones posted from JEGS and they all appear to be small. 10-24/8-32/1/4-20 etc. Do a google and you'll find some larger ones. As I said earlier this happened to me and I only installed the bolt on teh side and not the top. I've not noticed any noises of movement but I will look further into the rivet nuts.

 

You're welcome. We do need some humor occasionally on this forum.

 

The reason the impact sensors are located in this area is because this part of the car is the strongest part of the chassis. We are talking about a straight section of 4"X9" fully boxed steel frame. This is not the weakest link. The whole rest of the car will crush before this area is even deformed. The areas in front and in back of this section are curved and will crush before this straight section will. The impact sensors are designed to trigger upon a certain deceleration threshold. The engineers would not put them in a weak area of the chassis where deformation of the chassis will affect the magnitude of imact as measured by the sensors.

 

Why not tap some threads? Don

 

Metal is to thin.

 

If you are in an area that has companies that sell snow plows (if not you can make these) they have nuts (not sure what sizes they have though) welded to a piece of bendable flat steel roughly 1/16” x 1/4”x 1’ or so, simply make the bends necessary to get the nut where you need it through the inspection hole (providing the hole is big enough to get the nut through). Once it is there the flat steel will hold it in place to tighten the bolts then cut off the steel. Just a thought, Good Luck!

 

At least you didn't strip the threads of the bracket holding the rear sway bar!

 

Wash his engine!

 

I was putting some headers on the car and had the same thing happen. You cannot get access to the aft bolt because there is an internal brace in the frame and I HATE to cut frames. I used a product called Clickbonds. I took some .032 safety wire through the bolt holes and fished these fastners into the origonal holes. I went with a 3/8" bolt (-6) We use these at work and they rock. They glue in place and really worked well. Just google clickbond, Aircraft Spruce carries them. Hope this helps

 

 

my suggestion would be:

go to a good hardware store with a large selection of fasteners; there will be heavy duty nuts with intergal washers.

remove old fasteners with whatever impiliment of destruction seems appropriate.

remove brace,

enlarge holes in frame large enough to accommodat the head of the nut.

insert nut into frame with washer side remaining on the outside.

weld the outer diameter of the washer to the frame.

This has several advantages: all the work is done from the outside of the frame; all the welding is done on the outer diameter of the intergal washer and relatively little heat is transfered to the nut itself; the brace can be removed temporarily for the trip to and from the welding shop; and it will look good, and be stronger than the factory fastener.

lots of luck.

 

brought this back up since I may have found another solution.

works is going to tackle constructing a large steel structure with these

http://www.lindapterna.com/index.php...ET&P=Type%20HB

http://www.lindapterna.com/index.php...T&P=Type%20LB2

 

Just to add one more option, and an excuse to break out the welder.

Drill through the frame, weld in a sleeve, grind the top smooth and use a long bolt from the bottom.