compressed air first to remove chips etc, wear glasses too.

 

Like that can of air stuff? I don't have any of that laying around.

 

it in by hand first to see if it is OK. If not then you need a tap to clean the threads. Air compressor or the can of air (like computer people) use

 

Yeah, compressed air would not be a bad idea to blow the debris out of the hole with. Just make to to cover your t-stat and throttle body (and wear glasses or look away like yorkie said). It doesn't matter if the cover is on or not, you just want to make sure the threads are in decent condition. Don't tighten it down with the cover off, you are just checking the threads. When you actually run the bolt in, it doesn't matter what you use. You can use any tool you like. For stuff like that, I like to use a ratchet with an extension. Just whatever fits in the space the best.

 

I got some compressed air, sprayed it out and slowly put the bolt back in. I'm in a little farther in then last time but it's got some major resistance. Here is how far in they are:

Pic 1:
http://www.dakology.com/images/new%20bolt%20in%201.JPG

Pic 2:
http://www.dakology.com/images/new%20bolt%20in%202.JPG

Pic 3:
http://www.dakology.com/images/new%20bolt%20in%203.JPG

Should I really give it some pressure? But, I'm sure I'll break the damned thing again. Now what?

 

Best bet would be to run a tap into the hole to clean up the threads. Could you get by just adding a few washers to the bolt? Maybe, if there is enough threads of the bolt down in the hole.

 

When I went to Ace this morning and bought this stuff I looked at taps. The only one they had was for a drill. They also had screws that thread themselves. But the guy that helped me said there's a good chance of screwing it up even more. I could basically start threading new threads. You think I could maybe put a nut on there?

 

As I see it, you have 3 options right now

1) Go to Sears and buy a tap for that hole to chase the threads

2) Get more washers to stack up and make up the difference

3) Torque that sucker down there (I don't reccomend that at all, however)

HTH

 

How about a nut in between the washer and the bolt? Think that would hold? As long as it'll hold is all I'm concerned about.

 

I'd suggest the washers

 

You think this will hold though?

 

What are your thoughts on lock tight? Would this solve the problem for permanent hold? But then I won't know if I did this correctly

 

For Locktite to work, you need the bolt to be snug anyway. It just keeps an already seated bolt seated. Trust me on the washers. Instead of having that one like you have in the pic, you will have like 5 or something. See if you can get a couple of thick washers from the hardware store. So the washers are between the head of the bolt and teh base of the t-stat cover. Just make sure the head of the bolt is bigger than the inner diameter of the washers.

 

Why not get a shorter bolt instead of stacking washers. Just use one washer to imitate the original head that broke off.

 

I think craftsman makes some bits now that can be used to back out screws(like reverse drill bits), maybe a similar tool for this problem...