Brokoen bolt on engine mount

[lethal_xr8]

Hi guys I have an AU XR8 5spd and have boroken a bolt on the engine mount on the left hand has anyone got any tips on drilling it out and replacing it, i know the starter motor will have to come off because its the rear bolt but other than that any help would be great or would i be better getting a mechanic to do it? if so how much would i be looking at.

Any help apreciated, Cheers

[sbutler]

My advice is, get one of those stud removal guys to do it. Thats who Ford use, this is a common problem with the A series Windsors, & they know how to do it fast & inexpencive.. You would stuff around with it for hours, & still not get it. These guy do it in under an hour..

[gregaust]

I'll second that ..I've used a guy up here where i work for broken bolts etc and these guys get broken bolts fixed in minutes for a very reasonable price.. I'm sure there'd be someone in your area.

[XR6Stu]

Yes. This is a professional job. Snapped of bolts are a pain in my behind. And anyone else who snaps them off really! Damn its cold this morning!

[Peeler]

snap on sell cobolt extractor sets , with left hand drill bits , usually undo while drilling ,if you have a drill with reverse

[lethal_xr8]

Thanks for all the help guys, will try and get onto a bolt removal guy

cheers

[AUXRVIII]

I've done many of these and I was surprised at how easy they were to remove, the remaining part of the bolt is very easy to drill through also. I pilot drilled using a 1/8th drill bit then redrilled using 1/4 bit then used an easy out to remove the broken bolt.
I found what also helps is to drill all the way through the broken bolt and spray some Wurth Rostoff up into the hole.

[56L]

i had a bolt specialist come out and do mine as both of my left hand bolts were sheared off,it took him hours to get the rear bolt out and he had done this on fords before,he had to drill out the bolt and broke several easy outs in the process and had to collapse the bolt with a special tool ,i have now got hair line cracks in my block haeded towards the welsh plugs arrrgh :
It cost me about $120 to get these bolts out but if he had troubles i would have had definate troubles if attempted by myself

[Sox]

Bit of a thread mine...

I was underneath mine the other day changing oil and saw both passenger side bolts broken.

Drilled into each bolt a few mm with a 4mm drill bit, stuck in an 'easy out', drill in reverse and out they came.
The rear bolt needed a drill extension, so didn't need to remove the starter or anything else.

Took about 10mins all up. Easy job.

[Chrysler]

Well I'm glad some of you guys found it easy! I've just had a bastard of a time getting one out - and it was the easy one! (Front passenger side) Broke two Ezyouts - and that was after drilling all the way through the bolt and squirting WD40 up into it and letting it sit overnight to soak through. The bastard was seized tight and took a special splined 6mm stud remover and a breaker bar to finally get out.

I still have the rear one to tackle and am slowly drilling it out with an extension bar and a hex-key drill bit.

If you have to do this, do yourself a favour and centre-punch the bolt to get the drill bit centred and then drill a pilot hole and gradually enlarge it until you have a 6mm hole drilled and use a corresponding Ezyout to crack it.

You may be lucky and be able to get yours out with a 4mm hole/Ezyout, but if it doesn't feel like its coming, go the next size up.

Apart from being rusted in there, I reckon the mount pounding on the sheared bolt when it broke nailed it in there nice and tight.

The next job (after getting the rear bolt out) is to find a decent flanged 7/16" grade 8 bolt to replace the original. Ford don't sell them anymore, and you can bet that - like me - if you replace an AU V8 engine mount with another bolt from the wreckers, it will be fatigued and probably break (this is the second time I've had to do this job).

[mcfly94]

ARP do engine mount to block bolts

[Chrysler]

Cheers mate. I looked by bolt size instead of application, but found what I needed after your suggestion. Part ARP 150-3102

[FTe342]

Originally Posted by Chrysler

Well I'm glad some of you guys found it easy! I've just had a bastard of a time getting one out - and it was the easy one! (Front passenger side) Broke two Ezyouts - and that was after drilling all the way through the bolt and squirting WD40 up into it and letting it sit overnight to soak through. The bastard was seized tight and took a special splined 6mm stud remover and a breaker bar to finally get out.

I still have the rear one to tackle and am slowly drilling it out with an extension bar and a hex-key drill bit.

If you have to do this, do yourself a favour and centre-punch the bolt to get the drill bit centred and then drill a pilot hole and gradually enlarge it until you have a 6mm hole drilled and use a corresponding Ezyout to crack it.

You may be lucky and be able to get yours out with a 4mm hole/Ezyout, but if it doesn't feel like its coming, go the next size up.

Apart from being rusted in there, I reckon the mount pounding on the sheared bolt when it broke nailed it in there nice and tight.

The next job (after getting the rear bolt out) is to find a decent flanged 7/16" grade 8 bolt to replace the original. Ford don't sell them anymore, and you can bet that - like me - if you replace an AU V8 engine mount with another bolt from the wreckers, it will be fatigued and probably break (this is the second time I've had to do this job).

A tip that would have made your job easier. Instead of using WD40 use Rostoff made by Wurth. I can buy it from Repco but if you cant get it from a local store it is available from Ebay.

This stuff is 20 times better than WD40. Penetrates much quicker and literally dissolves rust. Get some you will never be without it once you have used it

[Xdesp80]

Oh joy.
I’ve just discovered 2 sheared bolts on the LHS on an AU XR8 I’ve just bought.

[FTe342]

Originally Posted by Xdesp80

Oh joy.
I’ve just discovered 2 sheared bolts on the LHS on an AU XR8 I’ve just bought.

Get the bolt removal specialist in. Save you a lot of grief

[Xdesp80]

Originally Posted by FTe342

Get the bolt removal specialist in. Save you a lot of grief

Will they do it on stands or need it up on a hoist you reckon.... ?

[mcfly94]

Agreed

I had a bolt specialist come in to repair a customers car, repaired on hoist under one hour work for one bolt $110ish inc for repair, that is worth having done because they are a cow to get out

[Bill M]

I agree with the above comments. If you are not confident get a professional to do it. If you bugger it up with an attempt it will cost more to rectify. The Thread Doctor has good reviews online going back years. Are you in Melbourne Vic?

https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/...-stud-removal/

[PridenJoy]

When i rang thread doctor at the time i had to do this, he wanted the car on a hoist with steering rack removed. If i knew how painful the job was going to be i wouldn't have started it and would have got him to do it.

[FTe342]

Originally Posted by Xdesp80

Will they do it on stands or need it up on a hoist you reckon.... ?

I reckon they will want it on a hoist but ask if they will do it on stands, they can only say no. You dont ask, you dont get. They probably can recommend someone who has a hoist

[Sox]

Originally Posted by Sox

Bit of a thread mine...

I was underneath mine the other day changing oil and saw both passenger side bolts broken.

Drilled into each bolt a few mm with a 4mm drill bit, stuck in an 'easy out', drill in reverse and out they came.
The rear bolt needed a drill extension, so didn't need to remove the starter or anything else.

Took about 10mins all up. Easy job.

Since this post I've done at least another 10 or so.
All been pretty straight forward, taking as little as 10mins and up to 1 hour at the most.

Only 1 beat me but that had already been started by someone else who drilled into the bolt off center.
I'll be having another go at that one sometime in the future though, it's coming out...

[ebv8]

my old AU did this every few months
i never used high tensile bolts just in case they snapped and i could not drill them out and use easy outs on them
i think the issue lied in the flushness of the engine mount to block face, even after torquing them up there was still flex in the plate and snapped the bolt after some time and lots off hard take offs

[FTe342]

Originally Posted by ebv8

my old AU did this every few months
i never used high tensile bolts just in case they snapped and i could not drill them out and use easy outs on them
i think the issue lied in the flushness of the engine mount to block face, even after torquing them up there was still flex in the plate and snapped the bolt after some time and lots off hard take offs

You are correct about the cause. A former member also broke many bolts until he replaced the engine mount with one that mounted flush to the block. No more broken bolts

[Sox]

Originally Posted by Sox

Since this post I've done at least another 10 or so.
All been pretty straight forward, taking as little as 10mins and up to 1 hour at the most.

Only 1 beat me but that had already been started by someone else who drilled into the bolt off center.
I'll be having another go at that one sometime in the future though, it's coming out...

I had another attempt at this one and was successful with the engine in the car.
Drilled right through it with a masonry bit and out it come with an easy out.
I did need to fit a bigger bolt though as the thread was too damaged.

Still haven't been beaten...

[Uncle_Ken]

Thread miner
UK

[Peuty]

Sorry for the thread mine, but I will be dropping the K Frame on the XR8 at some point soon, due to an oil leak from the sump gasket.

As far as I can tell, I have no engine mount issues, however is it worth replacing them while the K Frame is removed as a precaution? I'm not keen to fix what isn't broken, but if it's good preventative maintenance, I don't mind doing the job.

Any advice much appreciated.

[mcfly94]

Originally Posted by Peuty

Sorry for the thread mine, but I will be dropping the K Frame on the XR8 at some point soon, due to an oil leak from the sump gasket.

As far as I can tell, I have no engine mount issues, however is it worth replacing them while the K Frame is removed as a precaution? I'm not keen to fix what isn't broken, but if it's good preventative maintenance, I don't mind doing the job.

Any advice much appreciated.

Bolts are like $30 for ARP bolts so dosent hurt to do them if you want, some fresh life bolts wouldn’t go astray that’s for sure.

[Peuty]

Thanks Brandon. So replace the bolt and leave the mounts themselves alone then?

[mcfly94]

Originally Posted by Peuty

Thanks Brandon. So replace the bolt and leave the mounts themselves alone then?

Yep leave mounts nothing wrong with mounts just swap the bolts out torque to new ARP spec

[XR Martin]

Id be doing the mounts if you've already got it apart.
If it's lasted near 20 years, then another decent set should last just as long so you can then cross it off the list of **** to worry about.