Sometimes you just get lucky!

[zKars]

When taking parts off of 50 year old Datsun’s, you may encounter some rusty bolts that need a little attention. Sometimes you just have to give up and break it off, then deal with the drill and tap that results. Perfectly normal.

Some of the bolts on my “most likely to break off” list include the M8 pair at the bottom of the fender with the nifty little pointy tips that face upward, threading into an internally welded nut inside the rocker panel. Natural place for water to collect and make those threads just about solid.

Well today I had a treat. The 75 280 that I’m parting out had two missing and already out, leaving just two that I had to remove. And surprise surprise, I got one of them out without breaking the bolt!

 

[wheee!]

Bonus metal!

[wheee!]

Do you have a pic of the whole car? Curious to see another local 75/76...

[zKars]

Special...

[siteunseen]

You keep it cold in your garage I see. My Dad did that so he'd get done sooner.

[zKars]

To complete the story. I did “Save” the little pointy headed monster.

AND you get to see what the internal welded on nuts look like. Plenty of meat should you find yourself needing to move up a size....

Edited February 7, 2021 by zKars

[zKars]

Got lucky again with this car. 

The rear mag nuts were not happy about coming off AT ALL. I was not using the best impact socket, and it managed to round over the flats on the nut. Yes I have a wonderful cordless Milwaukee M18 impact. 

I had to go get my left hand thread wheel nut remover to do it. Had to resort to a 4” cheater to get it turning, then finished with the impact.

Here it is after removing the extractor. Next pic has an original nut for comparison. Pretty great extractor socket that bit and didn’t break with the 4-500 lbs of cheater pipe torque.  It’s been ground down too from a prior job removing wheel locks that wouldn’t come off on a certain Honda. 

Dang I should have taken a picture of the corrosion about the studs coming through the drum. Very impressive. I am going to have to break the drum to get it off most likely. I’ll try with heat and 5lb persuader for a bit first....

To get the extractor socket off, I had to thread in an old flywheel bolt, then weld that to a plate and put that in the vise. Just tightening the flywheel bolt hex in the vise was not enough.  And then a 4 foot cheater bar to get it to start backing off.

Edited February 9, 2021 by zKars

[siteunseen]

Well it's a good thing they didn't need to put on a spare tire. My Dad always overnighted lug nuts for no reason. He over tightened everything now that I think about it. Maybe his way of "signing" his work?

[zKars]

How about this gem?

How do I get it off? It’s not brittle but there is no access to the inside of that rad support member.

 

[wheee!]

Should pop out pretty easy if I remember mine.

[Namerow]

9 hours ago, zKars said:

How about this gem?

How do I get it off? It’s not brittle but there is no access to the inside of that rad support member.

 

It would probably help to add some force from underneath while you're prying up from the top side (forked trim removal tool).  Maybe you could make up a levering tool and insert it through the hole shown to the right in your photo.  Say, from a length of 1/4" steel bar stock with a bend in it.  With the bend positioned right at the point where the bar exits the hole, the sheet metal would act as a fulcrum.  3/16" steel rod with a flattened tip would be another option.  Either way, you'd be able to generate at least some upward pushing force that would help to reduce what would otherwise be 100% reliance on putting tension into the plastic tit.  A bit of spray lube won't hurt, either.

Edited February 10, 2021 by Namerow

[zspert]

When practical, heat applied if it doesn't cooperate immediately!