Headlight securing bolt - advice

EdinA2

EdinA2

Member
Hi. I watched mrbroons excellent video on headlight removal and quickly changed the defective lamp on the O/S of my A2. Glanced at the N/S and spotted there was no lower bolt. On removal of the light unit, it looks like the bolt has previously broken into the captive nut and someone has had a go at drilling it out. Part of the drill is still in the hole! Is this a bumper off exercise to get at the captive nut? It looks like it may even be an inset, is anybody familiar with this? Thanks as usual for all you help!

bumper.jpg
 
I would expect it to be possible to Drill the broken remains out and fit a Thread Insert of some sort but I don’t know what the Threads are in. If there’s enough metal left then a Timesert might work ? They come as Kits for different Sizes. There’s a precisely sized Drill, Tap and Countersink Bit for each Size of Thread. Then a Tool that Screws the Insert into the Threaded Countersunk Hole you have made. You feel like the Threaded Insert is going to come out when you are unscrewing the Tool but by Magic it doesn’t ! Did all of that lying on a concrete floor underneath my VW 1600 Type 3 Variant to replace a broken off Exhaust Stud in a Cylinder Head about 16 years ago. It has been fine ever since.

Regards,

Steve U
 
Hi Steve. Thanks for your feedback. I have previously used helicoils but the TimeSert seem much better. Step 1 however is that there appears to be a broken drill already in the hole! I think drilling that out will be near impossible, hence the question on access to the underside/construction.
 
No access it is in a blind hole in the slam panel. You could get a very small chisel and break up the drill remnants then perhaps be able to tap the captive.
 
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