Avanti Supercharger - what would you do? Clumsy mechanic asks...

[wfhenderson]

All-

I'll start by admitting that the clumsy mechanic is me. I dropped my Supercharger less than 6 inches onto the garage floor, it landed on one of its case screws and snapped the head clean off. (Don't ask.) see photo attached.

Using the proper sized drill bit, I drilled the old screw out on my drill press. So far so good. But then, with epic carelessness I compounded the problem by snapping off the tap in the hole when attempting to re-thread. (Again, don't ask).

I know the right thing to do is take it all apart and fix it properly, but I am just asking-- with one screw missing like this-- am I OK or am I looking for trouble? I really did not want to take the case apart, there is nothing else wrong with it and I am afraid that bad luck will come to me in threes.

Opinions welcome.

[royvaldez]

You need to find a good machine shop.

[jlmccuan]

Looks like it's time for a tap extractor.

[52 Ragtop]

IIRC, those go all the way through the 2 halves. If so, drill it out, and use a screw extractor as previously stated. it should be easy, Those bolts are "usually" not that tight. You might even get lucky, if there is enough sticking out once the back cover is removed, to be able to grab whats left with vise grips.

Jim

[PackardV8]

Put the supercharger down and back slowly away from the workbench, hands in the air!

1. Yes, it's aluminum, but no, I've had less than a 50% success rate with the tap extractors I've used. Aluminum is soft, thus gummy and will hold a tap sometimes tighter than will cast iron.
2. The only way to know if it is going to leak because of a missing screw is to run it and see. Before installation, have someone else competent check all the remaining screws are equally tight.
3. If you do decide to run it as is CASO-style, I'd smear a light coat of silicone sealer at the broken area as an indicator. This will stay tight if it doesn't leak, get blown out if it does.
4. Bottom line, given your success rate thus far, do you really want to be handling the supercharger twice more on installs and removing it once more if it should leak? I'd fix it now.

jack vines

[sbca96]

I think you are best opening it up, take your time, might even replace those "blade"
style screws with some socket head cap screws so you can properly torque them.
You may be able to carefully heat the area with a torch to expand the aluminum a
tad so it lets go of the steel tap. Why were you using a tap? Were there some of
the threads left in the hole?? Its best I work those out with a screwdriver or object
like a pick.

Tom

[Cale Wilbern]

Take it all apart, fix it right, clean it up and repaint it. Install it knowing it's right and that you did a good job.

[wfhenderson]

Thank you---

I decided I could not live with it broken. The aluminum did indeed hold the broken screw and tap like a sticky vice. Checking the exploded parts diagram, I saw that the back plate does not cover a myriad of parts that would spring out if I disassembled it. That was a relief.

I found that taking the cover off left me with enough of a nub to get the vice grips on and twist it out. I Re-tapped the hole and we are good to go.

Thank you for your opinions and suggestions. I like the one about changing the screws to better fasteners that can be properly torqued, and I will do this before I put it back in.

I will definitely be more careful next time! As always, thank you to all of you who took the time to answer.

Bill

[Retired]

fOR SAFERTY SAKE WORK ON IT IN THE CENTER OF A KING SIZE BED.

[BobPalma]

FOR SAFETY SAKE WORK ON IT IN THE CENTER OF A KING SIZE BED.

Some amateur comedian in the group has just got to pick up on that statement....what a lead...<GGG>

[Bob Andrews]

fOR SAFETY SAKE WORK ON IT IN THE CENTER OF A KING SIZE BED.

Thatswhatshesaid.