Frozen/stripped fittings

First smack both of them head on with a hammer, all the better if it makes the hex hole slightly smaller, then tap in the allen wrench, 3/8 drive ones work best. Then try loosening them.
The last solution is to tap them off using a small chisel on the outer edge, they usually come right out this way.

 

It's very common for the adjuster screw covers to strip out. They're made of plastic. Try:
1) Gripping the edge of the cover with pliars & unscrewing
2) Cut a screwdriver slot into the cover.

Getting a seized fill plug out is more of a challenge. Soak a couple of times/d for 3 or 4 days w/PB Blaster & then try with a 1/2" breaker bar.

If that doesn't get it, try heating the plug with a propane torch a couple of times & let it cool down. The difference in thermal expansion between the iron plug & the Al housing will usually break the corrosion loose when it's temp cycled. Also, the heat will drive the PB Blaster further into the threads.

Let it cool down before trying to break the plug loose. Again, more PB Blaster can't hurt.

Don't use an acetylene or oxy-mapp torch, they get hot enough to melt the Al case.

 

On the brake adjuster covers, I used a sears "bolt-out" tool.
Worked perfectly with minimal damage to the cover.
Then I ordered two replacements from Ferrari UK.

 

not ferrari related but reminds of last summer and the $36 part that caused the entire motor to be replaced.
my father-in-law has a SHO and it needed a service. turns out the crank and cam sensors were shot along with a few other minor issues. everything went great until the crank sensor needed to be removed. now the SHO is a yahmaha racing motor stuffed into a ford taurus. the space available to work in is worse than most of the ferraris and if you thought the itailans had crazy ideas about putting things in odd places, well this one gives the itailans a run for there money. to remove the crank sensor you need to remove most of the front of the engine, belts, pulleys, alt, cam covers, etc.. now the last bit is real fun as yahmaha decided to put the sensor behind the crank pulley and dampner. being a front wheel drive car this makes space tight and fun.

the crank bolt for what ever reason had been locktighted on fro mthe last service many moons ago. i tried everything, bump the starter with the breaker bar on the frame, 5' pipe on the breaker bar. and last resort was to torch the bolt to get it hot and break it loose. all i managed to do was twist the head of the bolt into a spiral.

so now it becomes obvouis the bolt isn't coming off, we'll need to replace the motor. local pick-a-part nets a nice low milage newer one for $300. at those prices why bother with a tear down? so there you are a new engine becouse of a bad crank sensor.

thought i'd share..

 

$300 for an SHO engine?? That thing is a rocket! Wow...Except for R&R costs, it hardly pays to even change the oil in them! LOL Just toss 'em and buy another.

Ken

 

yeah it's that R&R thing that gets you. the front layout makes for a very tight workspace. a weekend job and a few beers. the engine makes good power for its size but the car it's stuck in isn't the best paring for it.

 

Those are all great tips for removing a stuck bolt.

I've got another one, almost as good. Buy your $2.50 pack of JB (cold) Weld. Cold weld your $4 hex wrench into the stuck bolt.

Wait overnight. Now turn the formerly stuck bolt.

With the bolt out, drimmel it off of your hex wrench if you want to save the wrench, otherwise, toss away both bolt and hex wrench.

 

Tapping or “beating” the head of a bolt with a hammer can do a lot of good, but I have not seen very may bolts that won't come-out when heated red hot with an Oxy-Acetylene torch. The exception may be if the bolt is seized/galled to the aluminum.
On a steel bolt you will not melt the Alum case I don't think you will with brass either because dull red hot is around 1,000 Deg F and Alum melts around 1,220.
The other issue helping the situation is that Alum transfers heat very well and it will act like a big heat sink and draw heat away from the flame/bolt.
In the 70's when I worked in a body shop in the rust belt, to remove wheel opening moldings from older cars, we generally would heat the screws-up with an (Oxy-Acetylene torch) until they were bright red. Many of the moldings were aluminum and they would not melt. We just put new screws back in and they looked good as new.

Heating red hot does a couple of things:
1) Causes the bolt to expand and the differential expansion rate of the bolt and the "nut" will release some of the friction between the bolt and the "nut".
2) Steel, when red hot will loose a lot of its tensile strength and most of the pressure holding a tight bolt is from under the head of the bolt. You have probably noticed this if you have ever twisted a bolt head-off then the remaining stud spins out with your fingers.

Dull red is a critical temperature for steel. A lot of molecular changes take place when steel turns red hot. FYI, Steel will loose its ability to stick to a magnet when it passes the critical temp.

When the bolt head is red hot it can be twisted-off so it is best to do several heating/cooling cycles and let it cool below red before turning. It can help if PB Blaster or WD 40 is squirted on the red-hot bolt.

Mark

 

Buy an EZ out from Sears.

 

I'm surprised none of the gurus have mentioned Kroil. It is a penetrent like no other. Hard to find but worth the search.

Ken

 

The heating probably won't help on these.

A tool that I have found to be quite effective is these tapered hex socket heads that you drive into the hex and then turn out. It gives a good grip to turn out even for well rounded openings.

http://www.mcmaster.com/nav/enter.asp?pagenum=2710

 

Good stuff, but the surprise is more that the gurus haven't yet mentioned that it isn't always a stuck bolt. Sometimes she's left-handed!

 

Congrats Impacto!!

PWhemer, I gotta get me a set of those hex drive-in tools!!! Tnx for pointing them out.

 

Altho,
I'm surprised the fill plug corroded up with oil behind it. Maybe the corrosion happened earlier & the overfill occurred because the trans was filled thru the transfer case.