Hi all, heres a good one,
What do you do when you break off one of the 1/2 inch captive nuts at the front of the rear subframe ?? Of course it had to be one of the ones inside the subframe housing !!!! And it is one of the two that are facing forward !!! And the bolt is still attached !!!
Any hints would be appreciated.
Cheers, Colin

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Crazy Minimad

I'll tip that it's one of the two bolts each side facing forward that hold the subframe onto the body. You have a largish problem there if that is the case.

The captive nut is on the inside of the lower sill and cannot be accessed from inside the car as it is encased within the panel. It gets dirty and often rusty as it has no ventilation in there.

No, there wasn't much you could do to prevent it either so don't feel bad.

You can try and remove the rest (slowly slowly so as not to repeat the same problem) and before you try and remove the subframe grind the head off of that bolt. You should be able to lower the rear of the subframe and remove itsliding backwards. Then you can look at getting a new captive nut welded in.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

As opposed to a new captive nut, another solution might be to get hold of the right size
'nutsert'. Its like a large rivit with a thread in it. Goes in from the outside and clamps
tight. If it doesnt grip enough, a tack weld will fix that.
If something goes wrong again mwith it, drill it out and replace.
Fiddly, but won't involve getting into the closed off box section.

Na, Na, Na, you got the wrong end of the stick, it is inside the front of the rear subframe !!! That boxed in section .
Colin

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Crazy Minimad

Front Subframe and Front Apron?

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Stop Licking the Dog...I Don't Care Who Started It

Ah yes, I know the pair. they hold the rear swingarm onto the subframe. There's a box section on the outer end of the frame there.

That's easy but you will still need to remove the swingarm before anything can be done. If there is a stud left try to soak it in WD40 for 3 or so days tapping it from time to time to break up the rust. Then swing off it with a pair of vice grips or strong pliers to try and remove the remainder of the bolt..

If this doesn't work you could try heating it with an oxy and then swinging of it again to try and remove it, and if this doesn't work, grind it flush, drill it out and re-tap or helicoil the remnants of the nut.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

Still wrong !!!! The nut has already broken loose inside the boxed in section, so the nut and bolt just keep turning
Colin

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Crazy Minimad

Then mix the two posts together and you'll end up with a bloody solution!

Grind the remainder of the head off, and remove the swing arm. You will see that the nut itself has a shoulder that comes halfway through the steel towards you, you might try tack welding this shoulder again and then removing the remainder of the stud. The heat may help with the removal of the stud as well if you are lucky, other than this you will have to go down the wd40 or drill and rethread route. Or cut a hole into the swingarm.

The rest is up to you.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

unfortunatly you need to cut an access hole, reweld the captive and then weld in the cut out section. Suck's but it has happened often enough. Sorry.

Cheers
Aaron

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Is the subframe out?
I did it once, I used oxy to cut the head off the bolt and remove the swingarm. I then cut a big hole in the front of the subby and retrieved the captive nut and remains of bolt.
Finally I put another bolt and nut in there, welded the nut in, and plated over the hole.
Much easier solution- go find another subby.

<edit> if the captive nut has come loose and bolt still jammed in it, nut is not worth saving.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

put a pic of the problem up so we can see what you mean

Cheers doc, that was what I was thinking I had to do, I just thought there might have been an easier solution, and I just bought the bloody thing, straight and rust free !!!! Cheers all, Colin

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Crazy Minimad

Yeah cheers mate, too glad to help.

next time try a more detailed description of your bolt or get a digital camera and you will generally get the answer you are after a little more quickly instead of a lucky dip based on a scant description. It will also avoid your frustrated reponses.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.