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Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 8:38 am
by Amskeptic
Sylvester wrote:
How do you get old pitted studs out of a head? Drill and tap?
John Muir goes through the options in How To Keep Your VW Alive, to that I add "patience and a prayer". You start simple and work your way towards difficult. PB Blaster + hammer is a good start, not big hits, just tapping to break up the bonds between rust and aluminum. While you are tapping with the hammer, you are also making a nice flat shiny surface for guessing the exact center of the stud when you move on to the next step of center punching so you can drill with the smallest possible bit right down the center of the stud, then shine up every single other bit in the box as you drill successively larger holes right down the center of the stud. Some people switch to E-Z-Outs at this point, I don't. I go straight to hitting nirvana where the threads of the stud can be "un-wound" out of the aluminum with your fingers. Happens once a century or so.
Colin :flower:

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 8:48 am
by hambone
It's this kind of crap that can make a fella insane. Never mind "user error" and "learning curve".....................
It's all one big Zen pumpkin. Don't lose yer cool, nobody's home anyway. Yeah right.

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 10:07 am
by Hippie
Amskeptic wrote: I have been doing this sort of work since 1980.

Colin :flower:
Honestly, I don't know if I trust anyone else working on my Bus.
Sure, working on it with friends is cool, but the thought of dropping it off at a garage makes me crazy. You can't see what they are doing...and do they really understand the differences between it and a Ford minivan?

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 10:22 am
by hambone
A VW shop does, but they are production driven. No way are they going to gently restore each and every bolt.
(I almost said "fondle every nut" good lord I don't feel good today)

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 12:44 pm
by Hippie
Right on. And we don't even have one of those here anymore.

(I have waking nightmares of Iffy Lube pumping 5 qts of 5W-20 into it, and trying to sell me a PCV valve.)