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1986 K30 - Rapid Learning

Get 'er cleaned up and solid.
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With the help of a friend, I was able to get the truck registered in a non-emissions area. I also got Collector's Plates for it, so I am tremendously happy.

In other news, my girlfriend tested positive for COVID on Saturday. I saw her on the Thursday before that, so I'm thinking I probably have it too. No symptoms yet thankfully... but the main point is that I am spending a lot of time at home right now. So, I have a lot of time on my hands to do house projects and work on the truck (finally)!!

First, I reorganized the garage. I bought some grey tubs from Wal-Mart for storing scrap and parts for the K30, K5, and my Mitsubishi:

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Next, I took the bench seat out last night because I want to wrap it in a Mexican blanket. It was rough under there.

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So many bullet casings and loose change... I also found that the two bolt heads on the bolts that hold the bench seat down were stripped off on the driver's side. So, I've got to get those out somehow.

Anyhow, it feels good to finally be digging in on the K30. I'm excited to look at the steering next.
 
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If you found brass in your truck and it wasn't from you, you probably ought to leave it there. It's kind of the equivalent of revoking a man card if you throw it out.
 
I'm trying my best to get the two driver's side bench seat bolts out...

I'm using this drill and these bolt extractor bits. It is wild, but I can't penetrate the shank of the bolt at all. The drill has no problem spinning the extractor bit, but for whatever reason the extractor bit just cannot penetrate.

There has got to be an easier way. What would you guys do? Perhaps I should just cut the rest of shank off with a cutoff wheel before I go further?

Pic of the bolt I'm working on:
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Pic of the drill setup:
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Left handed drill bits are your friend. You can get them from NAPA or Tool Zone. Also heat {a small torch} helps but ya gotta be careful and you will have to pull the floor liner up and away a bit. Also are those extractors left handed?
ie your drill should be spinning counter clockwise.
 
Those bolts are probably too stuck or cross threaded for left hand drill bits. You can try thou the worst result will be a hole in the broken bolt.
Start with a small drill bit, get dead center. Then after you get a sallow hole move up to a drill bit 1/16 " smaller than bolt. Drill all the way through.
Use an easy out( misleading name if ever there was one)
Or my favorite style extractor
IRWIN Screw Extractor Set, Hex Head, Multi-Spline, 25-Piece (53227) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002SRG66/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_2AP004TPJ56Y9EY1VQPD

Plenty of penetration oil. Liquid Wrench, Kroil, LPS, not wd40.
good luck.
 
I would try cutting the rest off, or grinding it down. The bolt may be work hardened since it is fighting so much.


If the fuel tank wasn't in the way, it may be possible to do some work from the bottom. How much would depend on the amount of bolt hanging out the bottom. If you could clean the top up, maybe it would come all the way through from the bottom with vice grips. Even though welding a nut onto it would be good to heat it up.
But I am assuming that the gas tank is going to keep that from happening.
 
Wes Harden said:
Those bolts are probably too stuck or cross threaded for left hand drill bits. You can try thou the worst result will be a hole in the broken bolt.
Start with a small drill bit, get dead center. Then after you get a sallow hole move up to a drill bit 1/16 " smaller than bolt. Drill all the way through.
Use an easy out( misleading name if ever there was one)
Or my favorite style extractor
IRWIN Screw Extractor Set, Hex Head, Multi-Spline, 25-Piece (53227) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002SRG66/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_2AP004TPJ56Y9EY1VQPD

Plenty of penetration oil. Liquid Wrench, Kroil, LPS, not wd40.
good luck.
Click to expand...
I have this erwin set it works.
I even took out a piece of pipe that broke inside the head
 
I usually try to drill them out like @Wes Harden mentioned, start with a small bit and work up until you're as close to the threads as you can get. Then you might be able to use a tap to chase the threads. I've never had much luck with extractors.
 
Got out and worked on this a bit more last night. It went... alright.

I tried drilling out the bolt that I was workin' on. I took the approach of using a small drill bit and gradually working up. It was going okay, but I accidentally veered off course with one of the bigger drill bits and mangled the damn thing:

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It may not be clear in the photo, but the drill bit slid out the side of the bolt shank. I was likely using too large of a bit.

I was using this set from Erwin. I can't for the life of me remember why I bought these. I actually used one from this set to drill through my frame for the ORD brace installation long ago. It took forever. These bits also had a bit of trouble piercing the bolt shank. Do certain types of drill bits do better when drilling through metal vs. wood vs. whatever?

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Anyhow, I shifted gears and continued trying to wrap my bench seat with a couple of falsa Mexican blankets. I don't have a staple gun or anything fancy... so I just used shoelace to tie it taut. After that was done, it was pretty late and I really wanted to drive the truck. I decided to just put the bench seat back in and deal with the two bolt shanks another day. The bench seat doesn't move around when driving so I took the lazy way out and kicked the can down the road.

Here is a pic of how it looks now with the blanket on. I am relatively happy with the effort it took vs. the quality of the solution. The blanket stays in place and looks decent. It could probably be tighter, so if I end up addressing those bolt shanks another day then that will be the time to tighten the shoelace strings a bit more.

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Finally, I saved the best update for last. My plates came in... I don't have to think about emissions again for a minimum of 5 years!!

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CHIT-WOO!!!!!!!!

I'm freakin' paranoid about someone stealing these plates. It felt great to drive the truck again though. It had been a while of it sitting in the garage.
 
Cobalt is good, quality is the thing.
A shallow angle at the tip is good for harder material.
That bolt may be work hardened and just to hard for drill bits.
Try the other side, start with a small bit 1/8" drill all the way through, or as deep as you can. Then switch to a 1/4" then 5/16".
 
You might be able to use the small 1/8" bit to get the hole re-centered. And like @Wes Harden said, try to drill all the way through.
 
I picked up a new-to-me driver's side window from @Capt Ron's over the weekend (thanks again, Ron).

The silliest thing... the screws that hold the door panel are seized. I would never have guessed that these screws would seize up. It looks like somebody was in there before because the Phillips head is all mangled on both of the two. These are the two that are at the bottom of the little pocket where you grab to close the door.

I care more about the window than I do about the door panel. I might just try cutting it so that the screws no longer hold it on. I just want to get this window in ASAP since it is getting cold fast around these parts.
 
shima said:
I picked up a new-to-me driver's side window from @Capt Ron's over the weekend (thanks again, Ron).

The silliest thing... the screws that hold the door panel are seized. I would never have guessed that these screws would seize up. It looks like somebody was in there before because the Phillips head is all mangled on both of the two. These are the two that are at the bottom of the little pocket where you grab to close the door.

I care more about the window than I do about the door panel. I might just try cutting it so that the screws no longer hold it on. I just want to get this window in ASAP since it is getting cold fast around these parts.
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Take a dremel and grid the heads off. You’ll save the panel and you can get at the rest of the screw with it off.
 
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Were you the guy I told to buy an impact driver, or was that a different thread?

Either way, get one, and use it for that application.

Martin
 
Drill the screw heads off. Get the door panel off, then see what it'll take to get those screws out. You can probably remove the bracket the screws are in and then do it a bench
 
shima said:
I picked up a new-to-me driver's side window from @Capt Ron's over the weekend (thanks again, Ron).

The silliest thing... the screws that hold the door panel are seized. I would never have guessed that these screws would seize up. It looks like somebody was in there before because the Phillips head is all mangled on both of the two. These are the two that are at the bottom of the little pocket where you grab to close the door.

I care more about the window than I do about the door panel. I might just try cutting it so that the screws no longer hold it on. I just want to get this window in ASAP since it is getting cold fast around these parts.
Click to expand...
Can you pull the bottom of the panel out far enough to get your arm in? There are 2 hex bolts that fasten the angle piece those screws are anchored to. You could possibly get a small ratchet in there and thread those out.

20211028_101054.jpg
 
mrk5 said:
Can you pull the bottom of the panel out far enough to get your arm in? There are 2 hex bolts that fasten the angle piece those screws are anchored to. You could possibly get a small ratchet in there and thread those out.

View attachment 394083
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This might just work, I'll give it a shot before trying anything else. Thanks for the suggestion Scott.
 
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