I'm swapping a set of Lancer Evo Recaro seats into my car. I'm trying to remove the seat rails from the Recaros, which are bolted to the seat with two Torx bolts on each side. I tried to use a T30 Torx bit, which fit pretty good. As I tried to loosen one of the bolts, it stripped. The bolts have Loctite on them. I tried to use a T40 bit, but it won't fit, even after hammering it in. I tried to use vise grips, but the bolt has a round head so the vise grips won't work. I cut a slot in the bolt head for a flat head screwdriver, which only slipped out of the slot. I tried a bolt/screw extractor, but all that did was round it off even more and dull the teeth on the extractor. I'm at my wit's end here. I've read that you can weld an Allen key on there and get it out, but I don't have access to a welder, nevermind that I don't know how to weld anyway. My final idea is getting a T35 bit - they're rare, and it seems odd that they would use a bolt that needs that size.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

 

Have you tried these?? I have had good sucess w/ them..

http://www.amazon.com/Irwin-Industri.../dp/B0002YVUM6

 

I don't know how well that would grip the bolt head. It's round, so there's no edges to grip.

 

It doesnt need any edges,it has very sharp edges on the tool.

 

You sure they arent a plus size? Like t-30 plus?? 4l60 bellhousing bolts are a t-50IP... might be like that.

 

might be torx-plus but due to rounding it may be pointless to try those bits and they're difficult to find locally.

Since you're already slotted it, you might try an impact screwdriver.

 

If you have a air compressor, you can you a air hammer/ air chisel, and us ethe flat blade and lightly start on trying to sping it around. I do this a lot at work torx ****!

 

Unfortunately, I don't have an air compressor at my house. A manual impact screwdriver might work. I hate Torx and hex bolts. I always have problems with them.

 

I bought a Craftsman set of these from Sears. Unfortunately, the size I need doesn't fit inside of the seat rail, so I can't use it. I'm thinking about bending the sides of the rails out so I can use the extractor, but then it'll be a pain in the *** bending them back so I can move the sliders back to get at the other bolts.

 

start in the center with a small bit and gradually move up in bit size tile you can get it out....

 

We deal with this situation on aircraft every day at work, except we dont have the good situation you have. You have a button head for extra material. Start with the smallest drill bit and pick up some easy outs.


Once you can fit the smallest easy out as far in as you can hook up some vise grips to it, and bang on the easy out while you turn the fastener.

If it has lock tite on it, you might have to heat the fastener up just to get it to turn. Have you tried any combination said above with some pb blaster?

 

I tried using easy outs, but they didn't bite into the bolt. They basically just rounded out the bolt head more.

 

get some kroil and lube er up. let it sit all day or over night . then give it a smack with a hammer

 

will a grinder or recipricating saw not fit?

 

Go buy a cheap 3/8 drive allen key. Weld the allen part of the socket into the the stripped out torx bolt.

 

What are the bolts screwed into, underneath the car? Would there be access to grab the end of the bolt with Visegrips? Also, a little heat releases Loctite.

 

post a pic so we can give you a better idea what to use

 

When I completely boogered one of the Torx bolts in my transmission bellhousing, I took it to a machine shop and they simply welded a nut to the top of the bolt and used a plain old wrench to get it out.

I'd find a buddy with a welder. Wouldn't take 10 minutes. Just be sure to cover all around the area with damp towels or leather to prevent splatter fires. Hold a nut on there, hit the center of the nut with the welder, and back it out.

 

Take a cutoff wheel and square up the edges of
the round-head bolt. Get a good pair of Vise Grips
(with sharp serrated jaws) and they should bite
well enough.

A tool that has served me well, I first got for working
on Japanese motorcycles (prone to use long steel
Phillips head bolts into aluminum cases) is a hand
impact driver. You can adapt these to any bit you want
since they usually come with a square 3/8" tip inside the
hex nose piece.

Hammer blows force the bit into the work at the same
time they apply the impact torque.

 

The bolts are screwed into the new seats, which aren't in the car. The head of the bolt is round, with no edges to grab.

I might be able to bring the seats to work - we have welders there, so I could just weld a bolt or Allen key like others have suggested. I didn't want to bring them to work in case the seats themselves got dirty/messed up, but it's probably my last resort.