What I did this weekend.

[jcv1968]

After several weeks of threatening to remove the snapped off exhaust manifold stud and fit a new one, I finaly ran out of excuses to do the job. Armed with all the relavant bits and bobs and with the workshop nice and warm I stripped off the air intake pipewrk and manifold cover plate. Oh joy I thought as I looked at the mass of exhaust repair paste the previous owner had smeared over the manifold in an efort to seal the leak. I removed the manifold completely from the car and gave it a quick bead blast to get rid of the mess. A gentle yet thourough clean of the cylinder head followed. All the remaining studs came out without protest. The stud that was missing had sheared almost completely level with the head, no chance of getting grips on, so I decided to get a coffee my cordless drill and some stud extractors at the ready. I noticed that the 4mm carbide drill was missing from my drill set, so decided to "borrow" a 4mm drill from my apprentice sons tool box (it was probably him who borrowed mine anyway!) After a coffee and several cigarettes it was time to crack on, Turning on radio 4 just in time for the humerous antics of Count Arthur Strong, I deftly managed to put a centre punch mark smack in the center of the remains of the stud. Steadying myself with drill in hand I gently pulled the trigger, drill snapped, I slipped and end of drill found its way right into the side of my finger. After performing the ritual dance of pain and swearing rather a lot, I persuaded my wife that it might be an idea to take me to the local hospital to get the broken bit of drill removed. She kindly agreed to do this through tears of laughter. Still after 4 hours in casualty and 4 stitches I finaly got back to the Fronty. With a finger throbing merrily, I retrieved my drill from the nieghbours garden where it had landed and found my 4mm carbide drill in the bottom of the drill box where it had fallen. 1 hour later, job done and a nice fart free exhaust manifold.
The moral of this tale.
The right tool for the job.
Don't buy your son the cheapest drill set you can find.
Don't expect any sympathy when it all goes wrong.

Next weekend, drilling out the siezed lock on the spare wheel cover!

[Drift]

I have to say, I did chuckle too