Rounded off screw/bolt in plastic radiator removal

[sako243]

I can't quite tell what the screw is passing through, but in similar situations, the plastic bit the screw passes through first gets sacrificed to allow the screw head to pass through.

It's basically a tongue / flap that sticks down from the radiator shroud (imagine the shroud is a big rectangle then it's got a 2x2"(ish) tab stick down the bottom right of it) the bolt goes through the middle of that.

@reb78 I'd be a bit more careful than that as sadly it's worth more in parts than a complete vehicle.

I'm just putting it off because it's peeing it down and whilst the engine bay is undercover the rain tends to drive in a bit. Yesterday was nice and sunny if somewhat cold so hence why I started working on it again. Today I've been getting on with some soldering and software jobs in the office rather than risk getting wet.

 

[sako243]

Well I decided to attempt to shut up the posts about bolt extractors.

A suitable nut and some epoxy is currently wedged in there with some celotex hardening. We'll see whether it holds enough to crack it loose. Given that epoxy has so far held the headlight in it seems to be pretty good stuff.

 

[hermetic]

get a little hammer and just tap it for about 20minutes or until you see it come loose, it is probably into a steel clip or spire nut that is pushed over a hole in the plastic shroud.

 

[sako243]

It's into plastic no threaded insert, it's just a very coarse thread.

 

[OJCar]

What is the vehicle?

Does it need the plastic part to be so firmly fixed to the radiator?
Could cutting through the plastic to get cut the shaft of the screw ( roughly at the red line ) and repairing the plastic part do the needful?

 

[roofman]

Get a Starret type hole saw just a bit bigger than the bolt head and remove the shroud...give you more room to grab it with vice grips and just use a big washer to re-fit rad shroud

 

[Melvyn Best]

You can get screw extractors with a 1/4” hex shaft that work like the bolt extractors ,

 

[sako243]

I threw caution to the wind and pulled the shroud around the bolt head by driving a chisel up between them. Then found two more hidden bolts holding it on

I'm currently at this stage after getting peed off with it. I may or may not decide to vent the air con and get rid of the rad pack because it looks like an ogre has been at the viscous fan.

To be fair I discovered various bits that ideally need attention after a bump into a tractor on a Scottish hill (prop disintegrated so it was having a tow on sheet ice).

Whether I can be arsed is another matter...

 

[Turbo]

Get a Starret type hole saw just a bit bigger than the bolt head and remove the shroud...give you more room to grab it with vice grips and just use a big washer to re-fit rad shroud

Just going to suggest that.

Other suggestion was to create 2 flats on the head with a dremel to give grips somewhere to bite.

 

[Kram]

Bonnet prop is questionable!.

 

[Mark 5]

Bonnet prop is questionable!.

But I have seen worse.

 

[sako243]

Bonnet prop is questionable!.

Can't go in either direction, properly wedged in there. If I was really concerned I could have tied it up to the roof but hey ho.