Muffler Bolt: The Hard Way

Why do I do everything the hard way? Maybe the next scooter will be easier.

The saga of the snapped bolt:

The Vespa rebuild was coming along fine. I was done rebuilding the engine and the next task was to remove the snapped steel bolt in the aluminum engine casing. This bolt holds the muffler in place under the Vespa and had been sheared off by the last owner. I decided upon drilling a hole and then using a hardened steel 'easy out' with reverse threads to torque out the old bolt. In advance I soaked the bolt in WD40 and heated it up with a blow drier. I then snapped off the easy out and filled the area with a blue streak of curses a mile wide. After much (much) grief I determined the only way to get the bolt and easy-out removed was by grinding out with a dremel tool at 30K rpm with a aluminum oxide grinding head. It worked, kinda, but not really. Not deep enough to really work. Damn. I ended up taking it to a machine shop to drill out the HARDENED steel not-so-frakking-easy-out and having a helicoil put in. Hang on to your hats: $200 Canadian. @#^&%$ . Looks just GREAT now (see pic) ! It better! I only paid 100$ for the VESPA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why this happened: A steel bolt in an aluminum casing will 'weld' over time due to the galvanic cell the two metals create. 50 years qualifies as "over time". If I had used a propane torch I may have been able to loosen it. I have been told that aluminum oxide would eat the steel away as well and leave the aluminum. Hmmm. More toxic chemicals I could have played with!

This was a classic case of a 10 minute job turning into 10 hours of frustration and 200$. Sweet lord protect me from myself....