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snapped bolt on cam bracket

warpz0r

By warpz0r,
in Engines & Forced Induction

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warpz0r Proficient

warpz0r

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i was tightning them with 1 hand until it was firm and then pop.....

i thought the valve or whatever it was called was going down but no, the bolt broke....

anyone have a spare bolt for the cam brackets?

or will nissan charge me like $94.86 for 14 of them i dont need?

warpz0r Proficient

warpz0r

Posted
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yeah, thats similar to the thing i got from bunnings the other day.. havent used it yet...

either way, i am f**ked...

i have to either drill and re-thread the hole and use a bigger bolt, or try using an easy out....

but the main question is

Does anyone have a spare cam bracket bolt i can purchase off them, or a part number for nissan... (or will they only sell me a pack of more than 1?)

warpz0r Proficient

warpz0r

Posted
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yeah, but if i drill it out, wont there still be some of the old bolt left in there?

and also, i could damage some of the tread the bolt would attach it self to....

atleast if i use a easy out tool, i just have to drill a small hole into the broken bolt, then easy it out....

its about 1.5cm into the head, so might be a little tricky

Roy Grand Master

Roy

Posted
Posted

If your going to replace the cam journal/cap, whatever they are called...be sure that it is toleranced for your engine. I ran into troubles when i used one of another engine on my otherwise perfect RB20.

I wouldnt think its overkill to drop off to a mechanic to be sure that the tolerances are all ok...as from the factory the gallery for the camshafts is line bored/honed (whatever the proper term:)) so sure its a bugger and agro, but best be sure:)

Roy Grand Master

Roy

Posted
Posted
i snapped it replacing the cams... not from driving it...

want to do it all myself as a learning experience...

And whilst i didnt snap the stud, it diud seize in the cap which meant that i needed to source another one. I used a 2nd hand one off another RB20 that appeared to be in perfect nic, but as i said the tolerance turned out to be a bit different...so when car was off at tuners, the inlet cam became hard to turn and just about seized meaning that the cam belt skipped teeth and i ended up with bent valves:(

Im all for trying to do yourself, just be sure about the journal size should you decide to replace it

wrxhoon Grand Master

wrxhoon

Posted
Posted
And whilst i didnt snap the stud, it diud seize in the cap which meant that i needed to source another one. I used a 2nd hand one off another RB20 that appeared to be in perfect nic, but as i said the tolerance turned out to be a bit different...so when car was off at tuners, the inlet cam became hard to turn and just about seized meaning that the cam belt skipped teeth and i ended up with bent valves:(

Im all for trying to do yourself, just be sure about the journal size should you decide to replace it

Its common for the bolts to seize in the cap , the alloy corrodes ( white stuff ) and its hard to pull the bolt out .

If you notice all the cam caps are mumbered and you must put them back whre they came from otherwise you are looking for trouble . If you must use a new one you have to torque it down then tunnel bore to suit , of course you can use a second hand one and measure the clearence but you must make sure its within specs .

Warpzor ,

the best way to get the broken bolt out is : drill as big a whole as you can without going into the thread , so about 4-5 mm will be about right . Get an easyout and you should be able to get it out . If you drill a very small hole you will snap the easyout . Make sure you drill straight .

If you stuff the thread , drill a bigger hole and put a helicoil in there .

Whatever you do dont break the easyout in there so dont force it to much and dont use a chinese aeasyout !

Good luck with it

browny Proficient

browny

Posted
Posted

Depending on how the bolt is snapped off, you might also be able to weld something (like a nut) onto whatever is left of the broken fastener.

If you don't really know what you are doing, it might be worthwhile getting one of the mobile thread repair type guys to come and extract the busted bolt. For $100 or so it might save a lot of time, frustration and could prevent further damage. Removing busted easy outs isn't much fun.

blackrb20silvia Community Regular

blackrb20silvia

Posted
Posted

did the same thing on thursday last week tourqed all inlet up to 9Nm last one just spun in the head them pop thought it was the wrench clicking off but nope!! snaped in the head

stay away from ezy outs there nothing but trouble

here is what i did

a friend of mine made a jig used the cap as a guide made a dowell like object that sliped tightly into the cap taped it through the cap and slightly into the head the jig had a 3mm hole in the dead center

once clamed with the cam cap in place with the other bolt drilled really slowly using inox to cool and lube the bit, thi step is done to drill the dead center of the hole other wise there is a chance that the bit will slip and you wont get center, because the bolt is hardened steel and the head alloy, alloy is much softer and the drill bit will prefer this

once the 3mm hole is drilled get a hold of a

M6 x 1.0mm

hellicoil kit hire one if you have to itll save you alot of money,

follow the steps drill out rest of hole with the drill bit attached

then using the thread tapper cut a new thread all ensuring that you are going straight

cut all the way to the bottom of the hole

the slowly screw the helicoil into the new thread

make sure you clean out the hole before you place bolt back in

(another tip is, if you have 1 get a magnet hold it on the smaller drill bit and use the drill bit as a magnet and get all the fillings out, also use masking tape and tape over the area so no fillings get in the head)

as for bolts use any hardened or high tensile bolt got mine from repco they are M6 x 1.0 35mm witha hardness rating of 8.8 these are common bolts they are the goldy collour ones spoke to an engineer they said thay are fine because of the tension they are at

the reason i went this way is that once you have ezyouted the old bolt the thread is ****ed even if repaired has been weekened from the abuse it just coped

helicoils are stronger than the original alloy, but i just like to be safe

sorry this is such a long wined post but its something that i feel strongly bout

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