Hond 400 Four collection near-fail

So he arrived to collect the carcass of the 400 Four and said briskly:
"Right, I'll just whip the engine out of the frame, and stash engine and
frame separately in the car."

"No, you won't."

"Huh?"

<fx: points at mullered oil filter bolt and housing>

"Because you can't get the engine out of the frame without removing the
oil filter housing, and as I said in the auction, the only way you'll do
that is be welding a socket to the oil filter bolt."

<pause>

"Are you sure?"

"Trust me."

<longer pause>

"Oh dear."

What car did he have? A big Merc saloon. What had I advised the buyer to
bring? A big estate car, van or a trailer.....

He examined the engine from all angles, agreed it wouldn't come out of
the frame with the oil filter housing in situ, tried removing it
himself, gave up, and amazingly, we got it sideways into his car boot
with the headstock resting on the boot sill. And off he went.

Why don't people read bloody auction descriptions?

 

Stilsons and a short piece of scaffold pipe.
Its fucked already and David Silver has new ones.

 

Tried that. Also tried cutting a notch in the side of the built-in
giant 'washer' and knocking that round, and all it did was start
tearing the surface to bits.

Seriously, when they get this bad, it really is best to weld on a
socket head and do it that way. Done it before. And then replace with
an aftermarket 17mm headed bolt.

 

Can't you just Dremel the head off then get a mole grip on the shank once
the cover is off

 

No: the 12mm head is part of the huge built-in 'washer' that butts up
against the housing. Remove the head, and you've still got this large
round piece of metal, about the size of a 2p coin and maybe 2mm thick.

And it's a steel bolt into an alloy housing, facing forward where it
catches all the road crap, so it corrodes into place. If they haven't
been touched for a while they are an absolute bugger to remove. And
the silly little 12mm headed bolt then rounds off.....

Like I said, socket head welded on, job done.

 

Unfortunately; enough leverage to bend the bolt and possibly crack the
filter casing (1) . It's difficult to rotate a stilson on a pipe in the
correct plane; the wrench:nut interface is too rough IYSWIM......

1. I have ruined an old diesel dumper filter casing in exactly this
manner......