Part of the deal

When you work on old cars, you have to deal with stripped and rusted bolts. One of those was on one of the doors. I had stripped out one of the philips-headed bolts that holds the hinge to the door. While I was able to get the door hinge off the car (and the door with it) I still had to deal with that bolt. My initial attempt left a hardened steel drill bit stuck in the middle of that bolt.

So late this afternoon I decided I had time for a small project, and headed to the garage. I broke out the welder and a spare bolt and went to work:

Now if everything goes perfect, I can put a wrench on that bolt and remove the remains of the old one

After welding the new bolt onto the remains of the old bolt, I let it cool for a few moments then carefully turn it with a wrench and,  voilà:

Snap!

 
Yup, the head snapped right off. But that's okay. I was able to get the hinge off--and so the door is ready to go to the blaster. And I'll simply drill the remains out of the door and chase the threads with a tap. At least now I can easily get to it.

Earlier in the day I stopped by the Willamette Chapter of the Studebaker Drivers Club's annual holiday get together in Albany--I got to see some pretty Studebakers and hob nob for a few minutes with Studebaker people--good times!

Next up? Cleaning the garage--it is a mess--time to push the car out of the garage and get things organized and clean again. Soon enough, all the really dirty stuff will be done.