Broken Engine Studs Help Please

[GrumpyTwo]

I’ve not long bought my new (to me) 2006 R1200GS and it’s already causing me sleepless night, the centre stand and the rider footpegs were so badly rusted I have taken them to be blasted and powder coated. When the stand comes back I need to replace the pushrod seal. The timing cover is badly pitted, not leaking though, and I am waiting the arrival of some weld –it to fill in the holes before painting.
But the thing that has peed me off the most is the exhaust, I took it off to refurbish the timing cover and in the process broke two of the studs on one side, the studs on the other side were already snapped but some bright spark had glued the nuts back on with epoxy &*@@&&.
I have managed to extract one of the broken studs but the other three are still in there with about 10 mm showing on each of them, apart from removing the heads and taking them to an engineering shop, believe it or not is a very scarce commodity here in Aberdeen if you know of one that can do the work please let me know, how best do I tackle this job?
Any help appreciated.

 

[patzx12]

Keep up the spraying with WD40 with 10mm you have a good chance of a clean get out. if it was me i would slip a 8mm nut over the stud and TIG weld it in place (skilled job) the heat from the weld would help release the stud.

 

[ianboydsnr]

disconnect the battery and weld a nut on using MIG or Tig or even stick welder, keep the earth return of the welder as close to the stud as possible, like another stud,

cover everything around it with a reasonably damp cloth, as the splatter from the weld will damage everything and set alight anything in it's path, be prepared to put out a fire

unscrew stud,

don't be tempted to do it without heat, the studs will be high temperature thread locked in place,

if you can't do that, then take it to someplace who can heat it up

 

[Bendy toy]

DO NOT ARC WELD ANYTHING WITH BATTERY OR ANYTHING ELSE ELECTRICALLY FRAGILE CONNECTED.

Its easy to blow the ABS, generator, engine ECU, etc. So disconnect them all. The hassle in getting to them is a fraction of the pain they cause when they get arc'd. Boorman and Obi-Wan got caught out in Usbekistan (or somewhere) when they had their 1150 frames welded.

Welding nuts to the studs is by far the best option. Any half decent welder will be able to do it. The studs will then unscrew easily. The same method works for stuck dome nuts but this time just a blast of weld will do the job and then unscrew with a spanner. As @ianboydsnr says cover everything with wet sheets to protect from weld spatter.

It sounds a major hassle, but its a doddle compared to stripping the heads off for a machine shop to drill out the studs.

If the centre stand is cruddy you can expect the back subframe to be much the same. While the bike is off the road, strip that off and have it powder coated. If you have them fitted, do the crash bars and brackets at the same time.

The engine front cover is better powder coated then flatted off and filled/painted over. Powder coat with an etch primer is the best protection. If you simply fill it in situ, the corrosion will soon enough push off the new finish but only after its eaten even further through the metal underneath.

Also look closely at the wheels (or hubs on wire spoked wheels). As with the engine cover, the paint is really tough, but any signs of bubbling will hide all sorts of sins underneath. Spoked wheels will corrode in the spoke holes and make the spokes nearly impossible to extract.

I've recently bought some spare alloy wheels so I can have my spoked hubs powder coated. The spare wheels are at the coaters right now but they cant safely remove the paint with shot blasting. Its so tough they risk gouging into the alloy underneath. So they will have to go for chemical dipping. This is a specialist job because a normal caustic dip will dissolve the aluminium alloy.

There have been threads about bent/broken centre stands. I believe a tough bash plate rigidly fastened to the stand will give it useful additional strength. At a guess 3mm alloy should be adequate. Any holes cut through to reduce weight will need the edges flared to keep it stiff.

 

[GrumpyTwo]

Thanks for all of the advice it's much appreciated.
Would brazing nuts on the studs do the same thing? I can't weld to save my soul but I am a dab hand at brazing.

 

[aspiring]

alternatively try a heat gun and stilsons wrench to get the studs out,if you can get enough access

 

[Bendy toy]

There is unlikely to be enough access for stilsons and they can seriously chew the remaining stud. Also the threadlock needs more heat to break the bond than the engine normally generates.

Brazing usually has the metal glowing red which will probably melt aluminium and the gas flame will damage surrounding paint finishes. Even a fine welding torch is risky. The fluxes are corrosive.

Even crummy arc welding will do the job. All it needs is a nut over the stud. If necessary drill the nut to give a press fit onto the stud. The put on a blob of arc weld. The concentrated heat will go down the stud and break the thread lock bond and the nut is now attached for spannering the stud out.

Its quicker and less damaging than a flame but all electronics must be fully disconnected and clip the earth tag as close to the job as possible.

 

[donny1972]

Or you could try this bud.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-PC-BRO...t=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item5af115b42d

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Or you could try this bud.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-PC-BRO...t=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item5af115b42d

 

[ianboydsnr]

there's always one

 

[donny1972]

He he here we go again.

 

[Steptoe]

DO NOT ARC WELD ANYTHING WITH BATTERY OR ANYTHING ELSE ELECTRICALLY FRAGILE CONNECTED.

Its easy to blow the ABS, generator, engine ECU, etc. So disconnect them all. The hassle in getting to them is a fraction of the pain they cause when they get arc'd. Boorman and Obi-Wan got caught out in Usbekistan (or somewhere) when they had their 1150 frames welded.

.

They melted the wiring when they welded the rear subframe

They didn't blow any boxes.

 

[donny1972]

Pmsl @ steptoe.

 

[JayC]

Highly unlikely there'll be any spatter at all with Tig welding. Mig and Stick, yes, not Tig.

 

[autogs]

bloody hell the poor bloke only wants to fix his zorst and bendy has him stripping the bike for a full resto,fuck me bendy you always end up going off on a tangent,your not rashers brother are you

 

[Fanum]

bloody hell the poor bloke only wants to fix his zorst and bendy has him stripping the bike for a full resto,fuck me bendy you always end up going off on a tangent,your not rashers brother are you

He's right on though

If some muppet epoxied the nuts back on to hide broken studs, it's got to make you wonder what else has been bodged.....I reckon Bendy is bang on here

 

[autogs]

nah it sounds like he should glue the nuts back on and stick it on ebay cheap and wave goodbye as it heads for poland

 

[Bendy toy]

I simply say if the front casing is so badly corroded that @grumpytwo is concerned it might be leaking, then the rear subframe and wheels wont be much better. Take a close look and if necessary do the lot while the bike is off the road.

Buy a bodged bike and expect the worst. Then its a bonus if the worst isn't what I'm hinting at.

 

[GrumpyTwo]

Not That Bad

The bike is not as bad as all that and it's only done 20,000 miles but I am a little bit OCD with my bikes, I like to use them and up until a few years ago I would usually do around 22,000 miles a year, but I like them to be right, I don’t like scratches in the paintwork or corrosion on the wheels, or some prat gluing exhaust studs on. I’ve just about checked every part of the bike with a magnifying glass and luckily there is no corrosion other than on the timing cover, the fuel filler cap surround, the centre stand, the riders footrests, the left hand rocker cover and a tiny bit around the final drive filler plug.
The wheels are fine but most of the fasteners on the bike are rusty, fortunately for me my chum owns a fastener company. I’ve replaced the right hand, hand guard, the end bolt, and the rear brake pedal which was bent and corroded.
When I get the centre stand back I’ll get the push rod seal done and I’m now seriously thinking about buying a second hand timing cover and getting it powder coated. Whilst the exhaust is off I’ll polish it on the polisher and that just leaves the exhaust studs to remove.
Oh and I’ve removed the original BMW crash bars, Vario panniers and the mountings along with the top box mounting plate all of which will be sold on here or fleabay in the very near future, and I’ll make my own luggage.
Phew blah blah blah

 

[Pukmeister]

Read up on timing covers and galvanic corrosion, then fit the cover bolts once repainted or powder coated using a dielectric paint in the threads of the steel bolts where they fit into alloy threaded casings. Problem solved properly. Be sure to spray ACF50 behind the alternator belt cover before refitting it.