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Bockscar · Joined: 16 Nov 2010 Posts: 392 Location: Sandy, Oregon

I discovered a fun treat left behind by the previous owner! Two of the allen bolts on the pressure plate are completely stripped. Not even like a little bit stripped, these puppies are completely rounded out. Some of the other bolts were in bad shape but I manged to get those off. All that is left are these two bolts that I am at a loss for how I am going to remove them. I tried to drill and easy-out them but no luck. Those bolts are made of some high quality steel, the bolts just laughed at my drill bits.

Is there a way to get the clutch / pressure plate off without removing those two bolts?
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Brian
'79 924 - Restoration In Progress
'81 924 Turbo w/EFI - Scrapped

fiat22turbo · Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 4040 Location: Portland, OR

Get a better drill bit (some nice titanium coated ones) and drill the heads off.

Parkrose Hardware is the best place for hardware and tools like that (you can buy an individual drill bit, take one of the bolts with you to find a drill bit that will fit closely inside the head. A left-hand drill bit would be ideal as it could help loosen it up in the process.

Use some oil or cutting fluid to keep the bit and bolt cool to prevent making it even harder in the process.

Stefan
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Stefan
1979 924 Carrera GTS (clone-ish)
1988 944 Turbo S (Silver Rose)

Bockscar · Joined: 16 Nov 2010 Posts: 392 Location: Sandy, Oregon

Grenadiers · Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2012 6:40 am Post subject:

yeah, no biggy, I had to do this on my last project, 2 of the bolts were fubared. I think a 1/4" drill bit did the trick. Once removed the rest of the stud should come out by hand.
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'83 944 Track car.
'88 924S Track car.
'89 944 Turbo
2004 Winnebago Vectra monster RV
2012 Jeep Wrangler
2014 Kia Soul
2001 Ford F350 powerstroke

!tom · Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2012 3:57 pm Post subject:

If worse comes to worse, you should be able to grid the heads of the bolts off, provided you're willing to throw the pressure plate away.

Try to drill them off first though.

The idea is to drill with a bit large enough so the head comes off, not to drill through the center of the bolt. You'll need a bit small enough to drill a pilot hole first though.
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78 924 NA
5-lug

Bockscar · Joined: 16 Nov 2010 Posts: 392 Location: Sandy, Oregon

fiat22turbo · Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 4040 Location: Portland, OR

You could try just cutting/grinding them off with a dremel if you're going to replace the PP anyway.

A sharp chisel with a good hammer might work as well.
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Stefan
1979 924 Carrera GTS (clone-ish)
1988 944 Turbo S (Silver Rose)

mikebola · Joined: 07 Sep 2009 Posts: 361 Location: Parkside, PA

the bolt outs I use work very well. mine are branded as kobalt, and they're a few inches long. drill a hole so that about a half inch of the bolt out fits and then crank on it with a wrench. if necessary, use a lever to keep it pushed into the end of the bolt. that, penetrating oil, heat, and nut extractors work wonders. I also use something like a socket with corkscrew blades in it, and as you turn it, it bites into the bolt head. they even work on snapped studs.
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proud owner of a 1979 924 Sebring Edition with a 931 trans that looks horrible but somehow runs...

Bockscar · Joined: 16 Nov 2010 Posts: 392 Location: Sandy, Oregon

Bockscar · Joined: 16 Nov 2010 Posts: 392 Location: Sandy, Oregon

So this is what we're working with. Notice the the inside of the bolt head is completely rounded and the inside is chipped away a bit. This is the bolt on the bottom side of the clutch; I haven't even touched this one yet. That means the previous owner, or whom ever last worked on the clutch screwed it up and knowingly put it back together like this. Never trust the previous owner.

I'm having a helper come over today and we're going to see what we can do to get this sucker off. Seems like the easiest way to get the clutch off at this point is to simply drill the entire heads of the bolts off, since I am not reusing the clutch or pressure plate anyway.
_________________
Brian
'79 924 - Restoration In Progress
'81 924 Turbo w/EFI - Scrapped

Bockscar · Joined: 16 Nov 2010 Posts: 392 Location: Sandy, Oregon

After a hellish hour of drilling away at just one of the screw heads, I called it quit for the night. I used a large stainless steel drill bit that fit over the screw head perfectly, but an hours worth of drilling wasn't enough to drill all the way through the screw head. This sucks.
_________________
Brian
'79 924 - Restoration In Progress
'81 924 Turbo w/EFI - Scrapped

Rasta Monsta · Joined: 12 Jul 2006 Posts: 11733 Location: PacNW

Don't damage that ring gear. . .is a separate piece from the pressure plate.
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Toofah King Bad

WeiBe (1987 924S 2.5t) - 931 S3

Bockscar · Joined: 16 Nov 2010 Posts: 392 Location: Sandy, Oregon

Bockscar · Joined: 16 Nov 2010 Posts: 392 Location: Sandy, Oregon

A couple days ago, I was here:

Yesterday evening, a friend came over and took a pry bar and reamed on the thing. Now, we are here:

Well actually, the whole thing is completely off. We made a pretty good burr on the fly wheel though. See the markings on the flywheel? The whole assembly was never even used. What a waste

. It looks like the previous owner (some kid and his grandfather) took the engine to a shop to get rebuilt and then took it back home to assemble it. They clearly had no idea what they were doing.
_________________
Brian
'79 924 - Restoration In Progress
'81 924 Turbo w/EFI - Scrapped

!tom · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 3:04 am Post subject: