So after a weekend of pulling the engine from the doghouse... and dealing with one &^%ing bolt for over 3 hours in order to get it out, I wanted to vent. And then I thought, surely everyone on here has a horror story of one bolt that 'naturally' welded itself in place.

Let's hear the stories so that we can laugh about it later... Here is mine,

The clutch pedal bracket that attaches to the frame that allows for the pivot point for the clutch and also is attached to the Tranny, well that was the bugger.. Normally, I would just grind the top of the bolt off and thread it thru the bottom or 'gently' convince it that it needed to move, but this bolt goes straight into the frame. So I got out my bolt out kit and began to use it.. Viola, one bolt came out easy as pie, but the other one wasn't having it....

Soaked it in WD40, Heated the frame, called it everyname in the book, cut a notch into it to try and get a screwdriver on it, cut the sides down to get a better grip on it, nothing....

Finally my neighbor who is just as car nutty as we are, came over with a kit that drills into the bolt and then pulls it out from the inside.... God bless him for it.. he is officially on the Christmas card list now. and that kit is on my Christmas wish list...

 

I went to change out my corroded away battery tray earlier this summer. Of course, it's all corroded away except for one bolt right on the top. WD40, Rem Oil, vice grips, power drill, chisels, and 2 hours all did nothing to budge it. Finally got so fed up I just found the toughest drill bit I could and drilled through the head to the point it snapped off and I used a screw remover to pull out the threaded part. In retrospect, the 3 minutes spent with the drill bit were the most effective, and now I know for future reference if I can't budge a bolt in 5 minutes to just drill it out and replace it.

 

One of the two big bolts that hold the crossmember in place was a real bugger on my last build. I finally got it off, but it wasn't really welded in.

The bigger issue for me has been rear leaf springs. The front mount allows the mounting bolt to weld itself to the steel bushing liner. There is no way to get it out. The nut is hidden in the frame rail and the bolt head is exposed, but even after I cut it off, the damn thing wouldn't budge! This is when I learned that a sawzall is my friend in Mustang restoration. I used it to cut through the bolt on both sides of the spring between the frame rail on one side and the bracket on the other side. This allows the bolt head and nut in the frame rail to fall off and the front of the spring to fall out of the car. Then the whole spring went right in the trash. Only took 4 hours!

 

I had the same problem with the same bolt on my battery tray

 

Dont get me started on the time I had to chisel a wheel off.

 

never had a horrible experience, but ive had my fair share of grinding and drilling bolt heads

 

Chisel a Wheel off?!! I have this crazy image in my mind of you with a hammer and chisel slowly chipping away at it! LOL..

 

Thats exactly what I did, I didnt know any better and I had a wheel lug start spinning on me so I couldnt undo the nut. Tried everything I could think of, didnt have a grinder (thought I would ruin an American Racing wheel that way anyway), so I took a wood chisel and a hammer and went to town on the lug nut. Took 5 hours, but I didnt destroy the wheel.

 

Leaf spring bolt...thats all I have to say!

 

+++1 To that! Both forward nuts/bolts from the eye to frame on ours. Completely assembled car is now 100% striped, not a single nut, bolt, screw, fastener, tie or tape left on it and those 2 were the only two we had an issue with. The grinder wouldn't fit in there so I had to use a hacksaw and cut them off by hand.