congrats. I had that happen to me on the front passenger on my old car. SUCKED! Not really enough room to get a drill in on that side. But it was my excuse to swap heads out
I wish I could claim the credit for the aim, it was that jig I made. It was thick enough and good visual reference that it guided the drill bit staight. I did freehand the 3/16 hole.
I'm just lucky that making the jig idea came to me while I was driving around town trying to find a right hand air drill.
P/S I found the air drill at this little tool shack thats going out of business, it is a IR reversible I got it for $75.00.
Another solution would have been to put afew small MIG tack welds on the busted bolt to bring the metal out of the head then hold a nut right over the broken bolt and fill the center of the nut with weld connecting the broken bolt to the nut, once they are one peice just spin the nut + bolt out. The key is going slowly to allow for cooling so not to warp the surrounding aluminum.
I had to do this with a broken valve cover bolt in aluminum SBF heads, worked great after the easy out snapped
I have a Mig welder but the gun would not fit in thattight area and the visibility to see and control where the weld was getting laid, along with the fact it was a good 1/8" inside the head. I was also concerned with the heat damaging the head . The mig idea is good and I will keep it in my bag of tricks.
The jig is the was way to go. I was able to lay it out on the work bench rather quickly using the old gasket. This little steel jig ensured I drilled straight into the old bolt. My experience has shown me that even when I have a straight shot and view into the broken bolt when its in aluminum sometimes the bit drifts into the aluminum.
I will probably make a simple jig (drill guide) even on parts off the car if they are high value. It was just simple, safe and straight forward.
...great idea on the guide/jig...
