Heli-Coil!
Same fix for exhaust.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Dave Mcneely
Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2012 12:45 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Aluminum thermostat housing............

Paul, if absolutely unable to extract them, then I would go ahead and drill them out.  Then I would retap the holes.  That might mean a slightly larger hole and bolt.  Without looking, though, I don't know if there is metal for that, which would be 10 mm if the present bolts are 8 mm.

But what do I know, and wiser, more experienced folks might say differently.

mcneely

---- Paul <wognacious@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> As luck would have it the two 8mm, I think, bolts that are on the 
> opposite side of the temp sensors in the thermostat housing sheared 
> off due to being seized in the holes due to lack of maintenance on my 
> part. Anyhow I've managed to drill them out to the point where I don't 
> want to use a larger drill bit and risk screwing up the threads. In 
> fact in one of the bolts I tried using an extractor type bit that 
> broke off in the bolt too. Any sage advice would be greatly 
> appreciated. These are the last two stumbling blocks, that I'm aware 
> of now, standing in the way of me getting my engine back in the van so we can go camping................
> Help,
> Paul in Tracy

--
David McNeely