C2 Headlight Bucket

[John R.]

This may seem somewhat basic but this afternoon I broke one of the screws that holds one of the plastic headlight adjusting brackets in the headlight bucket of my 67 coupe. I have soaked what remains of the screw with penetrating oil but there is only a slight portion of the screw protruding from the threaded hole, not enough to grip it with any tool. Does anyone have any tips on how I can proceed to remove what remains of the screw?

[Craig S.]

Re: C2 Headlight Bucket

John - this is the is one of the things I dread the most, screws breaking off in aluminum or pot metal castings. The electolytic action of the dissimilar metals causes corrosion on the bolt and issues getting them out. The only safe way I know to fix this is to grind the protrusion smooth and begin carefully drilling (preferably in a drill press) with small drill bits until you enlarge it enough to peel out the screw. If this screw is large enough to allow the use of a screw extractor, you can give that a try, but if you are talking 8-32 or so it is almost impossible to allow this to work. Good luck, these are troublesome repairs but are possible...Craig

[John R.]

Re: C2 Headlight Bucket

I have replaced the plastic headlight adjusting bracket without removing the remnants of the old screw. It looked like it might be possible to weld an extension with a nut on it to the protrusion. I am concerned about the heat and possible damage to the paint on the bucket. The screw looks like it was 8-32.

[Craig S.]

Re: C2 Headlight Bucket

John - is there enough of a "stump" to grab it with a parallel jaw pliers or vise grip pliers from the side? If so, you may be able to grab and carefully rock the screw back and forth, slowly working it loose. I would not try to weld onto the stump of an 8-32 screw, you will end up damaging the bucket itself...Craig

[John R.]

Re: C2 Headlight Bucket

There is just enough of a stub to make it appear that this is possible. I was able to turn it perhaps a turn and a half yesterday. The problem is that the screw itself is soft material. Perhaps this dictates in favor of the drillling procedue that was suggested. Is there anything that can be used to "free up" the screw. I hadn't considered that this was the result of electrolisis between similar metals which explains why the penentrating oil did not work.

[Donald O.]

Re: C2 Headlight Bucket

John,
If you were able to turn the screw about a 1 1/2 turns yesterday, then try using a good brand of penetrating fluid. My preference is a brand called "KROIL". Just let the fluid (WD-40 even) for a day and try to turn the screw IN first then out. And continue this until it is free enough to fully remove. I would also recommend that the hole be re-tapped. When re-assembling, I would then use an anti-seize compound on the threads. This will make any future disassembly much easier.
Don