Pulled the exhaust to make room, laid a catch pan underneath the engine and pulled the filter cover and filter.
The stud in question is at about 4 o'clock looking at the filter cover. The threads were pretty worn and denied a good grip for the nut.
Tried double nutting the stud to back it out. Nothing.
Soaked it in penetrating oil and PB Blaster.
Tried vice-grips. Nothing.
Rinse, repeat several times. Nothing.
Of course, now the stud is stripped to crap, so it HAS to come out.
The next morning, I picked up a torch and tried heating the bolt. Nothing.
Rinse, repeat several times. Nothing.
Then the stud snapped. Awesome.
I'd hoped to avoid drilling out the bolt, but it had to be done. Grabbed my set of lefty bits (no EZ outs, ever). Started small and worked my way up. So far, so good, except that the bolt was never moving, preferring to be bored out.
I taped off each bit for depth, worried that it might punch through. The stud was almost totally bored out when disaster -- the drill slipped, punching slightly through. Oil bled back through the hole (I hadn't drained the pan).
I let the oil flow out of that hole for a good while, hoping it would flush out any metal dust or shavings.
Then I carefully drilled and tapped out the hole for a helicoil. Before installing the coil, I ran a few more liters of oil through the stud hole, to flush out and stray bits.
Then I installed a new stud just hand tight, refilled with oil to see if it leaked past the stud. No seepage, but I haven't run the engine yet to really be sure.
Naturally (for me, at least) the helicoil is not quite straight. That made fitting the filter cover impossible. I used a Dremel grinder to open up the filter cover holes slightly. The extra play helped me navigate the slight change in stud position.
Now, I have every thing in place and fresh oil in the engine. Tonight I can re-install my fresh clean carbs and be ready to start her up.
I did a few searches and noticed lots of posts about "just drop the oil pan" to check things out. Best I can tell, my oil pan won't drop unless I remove the engine. I don't have the tools for that (e.g., no sprocket wrench or lift).
Is there some way to drop my oil pan without pulling the engine?
Should I be terrified of firing her up to the extent there could be some filings/shavings that did not flush out?
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