Although I am still struggling with mother Natures attempt to take all the fun out of life, I have proved that I am more persistent than machinery. Some might be tempted to use the term stubborn, but that implies that machinery had a will. It just is what it is. And it is designed to be persistent, that is, continue to do the thing it is designed to do.
Well, I am more persistent than machinery. In other words, despite felling like refried crap, I went out and removed the broken off bolt from the engine of Frankenhealey. This is not an easy task.
First you have to drill a hole lengthwise down the shaft of the bolt. Getting it started is a pain. By the fact that it was broken off, the end will not be flat, so starting a drill hole is a challenge. I used a cutoff disc to create a small depression in the center of the bolt to start the drill bit. It is essential that the hole be real close to the center of the bolt, because otherwise you will mess up the threads, which you want to avoid at all costs.
Once you have the hole drilled, you use an easy-out to remove the remains of the bolt. If this works, all is well. If it doesn't, you have a bigger problem. I won't go into the consequences. The easy-out is like a drill bit but has spiraling teeth to grip the insides of the hole, The spiraling teeth are spiraled in the opposite direction of the bolt, so that it tightens when you turn it in the direction that normally loosens a bolt. You have to be real careful when turning it, because it is made of very hard tool steel, which also is brittle, so if you twist it too much, it will break off.
I did manage to get the bolt out. I resisted the urge to throw it on the ground and stomp on it while screaming "Did, die, die, die with festering boils, die." it being an inanimate object and all.
But that used up all of my energy for the day.
And besides, "Wayne's World" was calling.
5 comments:
sarah: It's one of my favorites. Get's the point across without resorting to profanity. I stole it from an old episode of "Taxi".
"I resisted the urge to throw it on the ground and stomp on it while screaming "Did, die, die, die with festering boils, die."
Oh I SO would've done that...and thrown in some "F" words, as long as no one was within earshot. ;)
PQ: I have done this exact thing before.
...by any chance did you call it a "girl" (aka bitch?). I find when Hubs gets mad at mechanical things they always turn out to be of the female gender. I've yet to figurer out why...
Sue: Automobiles are of the female orientation. The "B word" might have entered in my diatribe somewhere, but I wasn't keeping track.
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