Snapped Bolt! What to DO!?
 

Hey guys

i was using a tourque wrench i bought to install the motordyne plenum spacer

and all was going good untill 100 inch / lbs torquing up the bolts, the number 8 bolt ****ing snapped. i couldnt believe it. last bolt of them all, and it had to go.

here is a picture of the snapped bolt:

https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2569...970a8d6428.jpg


what the hell am i going to do now?

obviously it is easier to remove the lower plenum again to get better access to the snapped bolt.

then, i will have to call someone out to remove the bolt. or is there another way?

finally, the main thing i am worried about, where can i get another bolt from to replace the one which has snapped? does anyone have a part number or any idea what kind of bolt it is? it is allready in the head it isnt one u can take out.

all help appreciated!

bolt - call motordyne, they can help you out

got get the bolt out, go to HomeDepot and find 2 hex nuts that fit the snapped bolt. Remove the plenum so the snapped bolt is showing tread, then screw the nuts on top of each other tightly. Then twist the bottom nut to bring out the snapped bolt. I've done this once and worked quite well.

in the mean while, i doubt one bolt will cause a plenum leak ;) so just drive it haha

ohh yeh i could try that, its the same method as removing the guiding bolts.....

thats for that!

one thing though, im in australia, not america, so i really would like to get this fixed, anyone know what kind of bolt it is? its from facotry, it sits in the head.

if you have spacer on, then the plenum bolt is not factory - it is longer. Maybe take out a neighboring bolt and go to a hardware store to see if you can find a match? If not then call motordyne :icon11:

are you sure you know which bolt i am talking about?

there are 8 bolts which need tighting

this is for the lower plenum

bolts 1-6 are in the middle, bolt 7-8 are on the ends. the bolt itself is allready inside the plenum...... it comes from factory like that.

ooO i see what you mean now. i thought u meant upper.. my bad. you didn't need to remove lower plenum for spacer. Are you doing isothermal?

was the bolt harder to turn than the others? if it was you may have cross threaded it.

if you started it by hand and it was going in smooth, then you're probably in luck. If the bolt simply snapped due to torque, you will be able to get it out fairly easily.

remove the upper half of the plenum. I bet you still have a good amount of bolt sticking up out of the bottom half. take a pair of vice grips, lock em down, and twist away.

PM Rick or Tony from Riverside Infiniti. They can probably get you a replacement "bolt". I say "bolt" because it might just be a threaded post that goes in there. pwebb's right about how to get it out, but I'd put a little anti-sieze on it first. You definitely don't want to break off what little you have sticking up or you'll have to drill it out and that always sucks. You can use the double nut solution to screw the new one back in. You're fine for now running the lower plenum with 7½ bolts, but it's definitely something you need to get replaced.

im one of those people who rather do something right the first time, so i allready pulled the whole bottom plenum off again, ready to tackle this in the morning when there is enough light.

yeh i snapped the bolt due to tourque.... the other bolts all were fine that one just snapped so cleanly and easily.....

the 7 and 8 on the lower plenum are just nuts which go on the bolt. the nut itself is fine, but yes the bolt is snapped.

im sure if i take off the lower plenum there should be some of the bolt still sticking up. *fingers crossed*

will report back in the morning.

and for those wondering, yes i was doing iso thermal. was all going sweet and making good progress until this **** happened. i guess thats the price u pay for having dodgey tools :/

will pm r.i. for a replacement bolt.

thanks for the replies guys

The bolt you snapped is the same as the one you have to remove when installing the spacer in the upper plenum where it has a reverse torx design on it heads and held down by a nut.

If your able to remove the broken one without damaging the thread you should be able to use the ones you removed that hold down the upper plenum.
If you have enough meat you should be able to grab it with vise grips and remove it.

glex,

i was thinking about that also, seeing as they are the same sort of screw. but i did not know if i was to use that screw again or to discard it, i didnt get that far into the install.

thanks for the confrimation :) hopefully i can fix this asap.

if you have it off it should come out no problem since there isn't any pressure on the threads. If you have access to it you could file opposite sides of the bolt that is exposed and use vice clamps on it.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Bolts commonly have bad places in the metal and break. 100 lbs/in isn't much force. Only about 8lbs/ft. Probably a bad bolt.

Good call Glex, I didn't think of that because I re-used those "bolts" on the upper plenum and didn't install the ones from the kit.

Mark, I'm writing this about an hour and a half after you replied. Are you done yet? :D Good luck, and keep us posted.

Am i the only one thinking 100 inch / lbs torque is a little excesive?