Seat Mounts

[99Venom]

The front seats have two studs holding the track in the front, and two 10mm bolts going through the floor in the rear. In the process of swapping seats one of those bolts broke off, and in the process of trying to extract the bolt, an ez out broke off in it. There is a plug welded reinforcement plate on the bottom of the floor with a oval type nut mounted firmly to it. With the ez out buried in the bolt there's no way I can drill it out now.

My solution was to remove that mounted nut and just use a new 10mm bolt with a thick washer and fender washer on both sides and a nut on the bottom side of the floor to mount the seat. Thing is, I don't know how that oval nut is mounted to the reinforcement plate. I was using a chisel to try and crack the ez out and I noticed the oval nut didn't budge, so it's firmly attached to the plate somehow.

Once I try separating it there's really no going back, so i thought I'd see if anyone had run into this or had a better solution.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[shurur]

Did the tip of the ez-out break off flush top of the bolt hole??.

I know the bolt did..
Ask me how I know

A pic of the top (seat side) of the sheared bolt with the ez-out would be helpful.

 

[99Venom]

Did the tip of the ez-out break off flush top of the bolt hole??.

I know the bolt did..
Ask me how I know

A pic of the top (seat side) of the sheared bolt with the ez-out would be helpful.

The ez-out is almost flush with the bolt, slightly recessed, but the bolt is flush with the hole.

The nut in the background (closest to the exhaust) is the one with the broken bolt, notice there is no bolt showing through on the bottom. That's because after the ez-out broke I used my snap-on vise grip and got the best grip I could ever get, but the bolt snapped before it could turn. With these threads exposed to the underside of the car, plus 213k miles of new england roads, there's no way this bolt was going to budge.

There might be enough of the bolt left on top where I can get a small drill bit into it and maybe drill around the ez-out. Another option would be to use a carbide grinding bit.

I'll get a couple of better pics

 

[3B99SVT]

Ouch. The hole looks dry -- did you spray w/PB Blaster first? (edit: I see that the far hole is wet) Is the EZ out deep enough in the top that trying another EZ out from the bottom is out of the question (that is if the head is completely gone)? Would that make it an EZ in? (sorry) Good luck!

 

[99Venom]

Ouch. The hole looks dry -- did you spray w/PB Blaster first? (edit: I see that the far hole is wet) Is the EZ out deep enough in the top that trying another EZ out from the bottom is out of the question (that is if the head is completely gone)? Would that make it an EZ in? (sorry) Good luck!

Well there's nothing left of the bottom of the bolt, it snapped off in my vise grips. Just the feel of this bolt from the very beginning I should have known the threads would never turn, they are just rusted in place. I soaked it and waited overnight before I even touched it.

I'll have another go at it tonight and maybe have better luck.

 

[shurur]

my seat bolt got sheared by my mechanic..anyway.

I blasted mine with PB/liquid wrench. Driiled from the top, put tap in that was too small and got exactly what you got.

tap/extractor tip was embedded and I couldn't drill into it to put in a beefier tap/extractor/wahatever.

I don't know if you can get the tap bit that's broken out, but do try and then drill for a bigger honking tap...heating it with a plumber torch before turning it again.

The other way will be to drill from the bottom...not care about the threads..and put bolt through with nylon nut....

 

[JBird_Cobra]

I had the same issue... a full can of PB Blaster, (2) easy out bits, tried a Dremel, etc.

I ended up taking it to a shop and they just cut off the oval piece and welded a new one on that they tapped threads into.

 

[Bmeagher]

Here's the method I always use for broken bolts in steel. Wire brush the threads as muh as you can. Pull back the carpet, Drill it out, heat the bolt until its red, cool it with water. Then pound a torx bit into the hole. Works every time

 

[99Venom]

I tried everything I could on the top of the bolt, but there just isn't enough soft material there to drill through. I tried removing that nut on the bottom side but I couldn't do much with the tools I have.

For the time being I just bolted the seat down with the 3 other bolts and I'll have to take it to the shop and have them cut the nut off for me.

 

[Bmeagher]

I tried everything I could on the top of the bolt, but there just isn't enough soft material there to drill through. I tried removing that nut on the bottom side but I couldn't do much with the tools I have.

For the time being I just bolted the seat down with the 3 other bolts and I'll have to take it to the shop and have them cut the nut off for me.

Use a center punch! Hell, if guys can drill out an exhaust manifold stud with the motor in place.... You should be able to drill out a 8mm bolt with the seat out.

 

[99Venom]

Use a center punch! Hell, if guys can drill out an exhaust manifold stud with the motor in place.... You should be able to drill out a 8mm bolt with the seat out.

The bolt yeah, but the ez-out laughs at any of my drill bits. My biggest mistake was using it, when I should have just drilled the entire bolt out and tapped the hole. Without a torch or cutoff tool, I'm pretty much stuck with it. Lesson learned.

 

[99Venom]

Borrowed a friends air chisel and removed that nut in about 5 seconds. It was tack welded in two spots. All buttoned up now with some big washers and nut.

Thanks for the tips!