Freeing Stubborn Bolts, Plus, The Kid Pays His Dues 

I’m still shocked I was able to get the thing out with hand tools lol. The most interesting part was getting the hoist there, then lowering it onto a cart, and lugging the cart with the engine on it a quarter mile in 100 degree weather lol. But, I’m fairly resilient. Pulling the magnum was like finding the prize in the Cracker Jack box. Never gonna forget that feeling.

Talking as a 45 year machinist another trick is to hit the head of the bolt with a hammer before starting to remove it. The shock helps break the rust loose and the hammer will deform the head of the bolt to make it tighter on the wrench or socket. Good vid.

These are all great tips. My Dad had another one way back in the day, when he told me if I got stuck with a fastener that didn't want to come loos, to start by tightening it. It doesn't sound right, but it works like magic.

50 plus years hobby wrenching and I learned a lot! Thanks Uncle Tony I'll call you that even though I'm old enough to be your uncle 😆

One trick that I have found works to help break less of the manifold bolts is to break one loose, then tighten it back until you have broken loose ALL the bolts, then after you have freed them all up, you can start doing the jiggle routine.

"The arc of freedom" NOBODY can "feel" the same when you just know it's either going to move, or break. Can't teach it, but you can preach it! :)

Anyone who had to ask why you didn't pull the motor out of a van has never done an engine in a van.

WTG, Austin! Busted knuckles earn RESPECT! Old time WITCHCRAFT, LOVE IT!

NICE JOB, AUSTIN! You’re doing things, brother 🙂 keep up the hard work and the positive attitude!! Love the positive outlook.

Sometimes I hit the bolts with penetrating fluid a few days before, then go back and pull the part. It's risky though, I've gone back and the part is gone. 😂

I have never pulled an engine by myself, particularly out of a junkyard! Mad props to Austin! 🤘🇺🇸

Hey I'm the long haired hippy you met in the parking lot a few weeks ago when you had the lifter issue in bottle rocket. If y'all are still in need of those 90s 360 heads I have them. I also have the whole block and drive train if you need them. Sorry I didn't let you know before he spent so much on a block. Also if you're gonna keep the keggar make sure you swap out the steel plate while you have it all apart. $50 plate goes a long way to not burning out valves.

An important thing to learn is the feel of a steel fastener when it is within its elastic/springy range and the feel of when it begins to deform from strain. I can't think of a situation where straining a bolt has a good outcome. I also find using the side of a ball-peen hammer to lightly tap the wrench handle can shock loose a rusted nut or bolt. You will hear the tone change as it breaks free.

"It's a step above Chinese, it's Ti-weenie-an." 🤣🤣

The kid did well, I remember all the pains in the ass I encountered pulling parts and engines with brute force, long before I developed a little mechanical wisdom , very fond memories . Building a car is a journey enjoy it young buck.

Austin gets like 27 “atta boys” for that job Tony gets A Plus for explaining the fundamentals ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My current interest and activity is around old push rod Porsches and everything Tony said applies Basic mechanic’s skills

"The arch of freedom"! Perfect.

my hat is off to austin...ive spent many hours in the pick a part that i go to...some times with minimal amount of tools some times with half my box....dead of winter killer heat of summer...to get that special some thing for what i was building at the time....the last time i had less than minimal and found a good used dr side fender for my D100......excellent job man...

Great tips there, U T . Everyone should have a hammer in their breakdown box , back in the day we used to put hubcaps on with the heel of our hands . Now we have carpal tunnel waking us up in the middle of the night . I'm still guilty of using my hand as a hammer , someone has to keep the surgeons working.

My son and I pulled a 302 out of an old Ford Econoline once. What a job! We took out the front seats, took off the passenger side door, took off the doghouse. Put the engine hoist through the door opening, etc, etc. all I remember is that it took all night.

Great mentorship. Austin is cooler than he thinks he is...Uncle Tony is just helping him find his groove. :)

9:52...Tony demonstrates the need for a HAMMER in the bread-down bag. Excellent work, sir!

73 year old car nut here, these are tricks you learn over years of experience. You sir have just saved these young car nuts years of mistakes. Like I tell my boys, put that damn cell phone down and pay attention.

Where were you 35yrs ago when I needed this?..lol.

holy crap! I've snapped and stripped out way too many bolts over the year and busted many knuckles and cheap sockets along the way. Wish I had watched this video years ago!! What a golden lesson!

Austin out in the heat "Fine friends they are!! Where the hell are they? Why I am in this god forsaken junkyard all by myself?"

Tony, go buy a lottery ticket, those were the easiest stock exaughst bolts I've ever seen , lol , or maybe it's my continuous bad luck.

Uncle Tony-The Human Impact Wrench. That was awesome. I would have snapped off at least 3 of those bolts for sure. I would have started with a breaker bar and just went for it. Evidently, my way is wrong. Great demonstration. Unreal that Austin pulled that engine by himself. I think those other fellows owe him a few cold beers.

I have to admit that I'm jealous of these kids. I wish I was closer so I could visit or even help out. My first car was a 73 dart. It's slant was toast no oil rod thru the block. Still ran! Found a 4 door 318 dart in a used car lot were one mechanic needed the dash wiring. He sold the rest to me for 75.00 bucks. Pulled the engine and front suspension by lifting the body .got the 8 1/4 rear axle. What a mess,dad unhappy,neighbor blew me in. Had 30 days to clean it all up. I learned alot and made many mistakes. In the end, evetionly building a 308 and headers. B&m ratchet shifter. Sold.it years ago and built a few. Currently working on a 67 charger. Keep up the good videos. And thanks for the shirt and yes I hammered the headers I sent for p/s pump how funny . Mopar mike

Good job kid Don't get discouraged with upcoming issues. When you fire that thing up and start to thrash on it. It will be nirvana.

I had to do that exact same thing when I did the cam and timing chain on my '87 318. The long bolts that go from the water pump through the timing chain cover into the water jacket. THANX!

I've pulled conversion and panel van engines... It's a PITA in cool weather....

Uncle Tony, love your channel and the common sense approach. Had a couple of old Mopars back in my youth. Man I wish I still had those rides now. Keep those rides on the road for us old timers that remember the good old days!

I find Tony answering the comments helpful. I have no idea why he does what he does, and without the little explanation you'd think it was pure instinct or wizardry.

One of my very first jobs in a shop when I was a young man, I worked in a muffler shop. I really learned how to get stuff loose using a red wrench. A lot of people are too afraid of using one. It's amazing what you can get apart.

That's the way to get it! Another trick to keep up your sleeve is heat cycling. Heat the bolt as close to red hot as you can/dare with a torch. Drench in penetrating oil, jiggle with the wrench. Repeat until successful. It's been dead handy when working on my tractor.

Should have seen my 2 year process of getting the spark plugs out of that Jetfire, lol. They were stuck good in the aluminum heads after sitting since 1974. After two years I finely got all of them out without damage to any of the threads.

When I was in my late teens/ early 20's I worked in a coal mine equipment repair shop, they would pull stuff out of the mines and we'd have to tear it apart. Dirty work, but I learned alot about pulling stubborn bolts. You know your shit man, well done.

Bravo, Austin! Got the junkyard baptism, brother! A thing I have only done twice involves heating the bolt or nut enough to melt candle wax (smoke but no bursting into flames), then a touch more heat, then try the hand-hammer technique. Worked both times, but you have to take basic precautions and not wash the flame over stuff that might burn.

Austin is young but seems to be a hardcore gear head already. Just think when the disease fully kicks in! Keep up the good work guys. Props to you Tony for enabling the young crew to reach some dreams.

Why am i having flashbacks of being a newly married broke 21 year old laying in a wet gravel driveway in january replacing the clutch in my 74 duster to get to work.... gotta love it. 👍👍👍👍👍Austin, keep it up.

A ball point hammer and a blow torch. Heat the bolt/nut, hit it with a hammer, then get the wrench on it and smack that with the hammer too. Less damage to the wrists than any other method.

I always got my engines by buying entire junk cars. Usually got all or most of my money back by selling the stuff I didn't need off of it. Plus it's a lot easier working on them in your own yard with all your tools handy. I just did one where I started to pull apart the junker I bought and then decided I liked it better than the car I was planning on fixing up.

Uncle Tony is a fantastic instructor/teacher. You can tell he loves it too. Even his choice of vocabulary reflects this point. He is very articulate because he fully understands all the nuance of mechanics because of over 50 years of working on cars, trucks. Thanks Uncle Tony.

I am a full time mechanic in the northeast and the best helper for stuck fasteners is heat. Get a plumbing torch or map gas torch with a hose beteeen the bottle and the head to reach almost any angle and area. Another tip if your dealing with a running engine and exhaust manifold bolts is to run the motor until it’s up to temp and the heads are super hot. Wear gloves and crack all the manifold bolts loose first.

I've had so many fellow (so-called) mechanics tell me not to use an air gun to break rusty bolts loose. Tony's got the right idea, the impact is what loosens rusty bolts.

LOL... Embrace the suck... That cracks me up. Because most technicians will never be able to experience the joy, of changing a starter in the middle of a Michigan winter. First half the job, build an igloo around your work area. Make sure your drop light, is one that exudes heat from the bulb. You're going to need that keep your hands warm.

One essential tool to extract parts from a car in the wrecking yard. A Gas Axe. But the yard might frown on it. Having had to work on machinery used for heat treating everything had anti sieze on it. Plus making sure the fasteners were new and any tapped holes were clean. One trick with penetrating oil. If possible heat the fastener with a torch and then spray it down with penetrating oil. The head of the fastener because it is a smaller volume than the surrounding part will absorb heat faster and expand. Spraying it down will cool the head faster than the surrounding part. It doesn't always work but it's worth a try. In the end you may need to cut the head of the fastener off and have to drill broken fastener out.

50% acetone and 50% automatic transmission fluid for penetrating fluid. I swear by this stuff, it works, and works quickly. Great tutorial.

Thank you for the detail about checking for a locked up motor. So many things are attached but a belt will slip and a trans and rearend have "slop" great point that people dont think about...sorry the delayed comment. Great channel! Watch almost everyday and trying to catch up! Awesome wide coverage of all makes! Perfect!!

Great video ..no ego, just solid information

I greatly appreciate these general tips and trick videos that work on all cars, living in the rust belt I'll take all the help I can get. Thanks!

My dad tells a story occurring before i was born where he had to swap the slant six from a Dodge Van with the help of my mom when they lived in North Philly. There was no room to do it at their apartment complex, so they went across the street to a mental hospital and did the job there. No one bothered them, lol. The crazy part, no pun intended, was dad telling me he had to strip the engine down, including removing the main caps, in order to be able to move the slant into place

Love that! "Arc of Freedom"! That should be a song..

I want to share with your viewers a technique I use on very rusted and very tight hardware. I take my torches out with either a nozzle garden hose and I also use a pump tank with cold water. Heat the contact area as close as possible then quench it with water do this 3 to 4 times hardware comes apart very easily. One thing to always remember to be concerned of cracking the part you are taking apart. Alloys and cast material can get effected by quick temps. I live in Vermont we get exposed to salt which causes problems with steel hardware going through alloys but I very seldom brake bolts or damage parts using this method THANK YOU Tony I enjoy your channel and I am a GREAT BIG fan of Mighty MOPARS LOL

Austin kudos dude, welcome to the club of diehards. A salute to a true Gearhead!👍👍.

The "hand impact wrench" trick I use for easily removing drain bolts in crowded places (no jack), but didn't think of it when I removed a wheel off my Subaru. The shop tightened the lug nots so much I had to muscle the one nut off and snapped the stud.

One thing I do with a bolt that's seized, is tighten it down a little further, to break the rust, then back it out. Of course heat as well, depending on the circumstance.

Thank you Tony. Thank you for being the mentor I never had

Reminds me of all the shite I had to work on when I was 15 years old in my buddies home garage. All the crap that the kids we knew ,couldn't afford to have fixed elsewhere.

My rule of thumb is if there is any doubt at all, hit it with PB Blaster - there is no downside. For nuts on studs, I use a die to cut the rust out of the threads being careful to not go right down tight to the nut which would force rust/cuttings tight into where the nut and stud meet. I then use a wire brush to get right down to the nut. I've also had good luck with breaking fasteners by tightening them in cases where the head was tweaked from a wench slipping off while attempting to loosen it.

Good job Austin, Its not going to get easier but it wont get much harder either. Tony I gotta give you credit for humoring all the comments from the armchair mechanics gallery

A lesson I learned about 35 years ago, was trying to remove a shock bolt off an old Pontiac, tried by hand underneath, then put a power handle on it and stood on it,(I weigh about 175) no luck a new product from the Kano company in Nashville called Kroil oil, at the time, since it was late at night sprayed this on the bolt, just hoping, next day went to basement and put one foot on the power handle and almost fell down the bolt broke so easily, so if you have an overnight job that stuff works good, good infro uncle Tony.

Nice going Austin....now that's "hard core" in that heat 👍👍

In the 25 years I spent on the shop floor. I only broke two bolts. The ones that were crossed started into the hole from the factory. And the ones that were cross-threaded into the hole, from the last technician. But my favorites, where the spark plugs that were cross threaded into the aluminum heads... Straight from the factory. But you come to expect that, when dealing with Union employees. That's one of the perks of the job. Right up there with, never being able to afford the cars that you're fixing.

I've been wrenching since I was a kid, and just kind of started doing this by instinct. You just made me realize that.

Don’t worry Tony, there’s always gonna be someone that bitches and has to put their 2 cents out there about your decisions and actions. A lot of those comments obviously show that people have no real world experience with wrenching on stuff. Who in their right mind would even remotely consider pulling a damn van engine out compared to a truck? Speechless…

Stud bolt take a old socket & tap the offset wrench down onto the nut.

you guys are lucky down south. up here in Michigan those exhaust manifold bolts, from an engine that old, wouldn't have any wrench flats left. they would have been rust powder long ago.

The start of your video with your acknowledgement about the young fella,beautiful, the lad would be as hard as a cats head with a smile, good on I’m and good on you matey very well done

Another trick is to use candle wax. You drip it between the head and the mating surface. Worked a charm on my brother's motorcycle header bolts and on my buddy's Merkur exhaust manifold bolts. He's three one who taught me this trick. Thanks, Tyson!

Austin should be set up for free beer from the other guys for quite some time after pulling that engine solo. There are some good tips in this video. The only thing that I would add is that, where you have a rusted stud, one of the best ways to clean the threads is to use "mag wheel cleaner". I'm not sure if that is as easily available today as it was back when our aluminum wheels were bare metal and were a major pain to clean and polish. Most products sold for this purpose have an acid content. Most of the rust will be eaten away quickly and then you can spray a little penetrating oil to make the nuts spin off easily. In a shop setting a lot can be done by applying heat _correctly._ Perhaps Uncle Tony will be good enough to do a video on this to show how to do it properly.

Thanks Tony on loosening stuck bolts.

Any design engineer should know 9/16 and 14mm tools are happily interchangeable. Not all sizes have a comfortable interchange that won't strip a head, but many do. Yet it's always the non-interchangeable socket that falls down into never-never-land. Please design up or down one millimeter to coincide with an interchangeable dimension! (We'll get to designing so that coolant doesn't end up in the oil pan in a future rant)

The tip about hitting the wrench with your hand like an impact is exceptionally useful information. Thanks for sharing Tony!

"The Chinese junk" is what keeping the world turning Mr.Beard man Tony.

Makes sense to me! Thanks!

The bolts' sweet squeaking sound of success.

Thanks for the tip UTG! Also I make sure my break down box is well stocked.

Every exhaust manifold I've ever touched..........the hot wrench became involved for two or more of the studs/bolts....🤣

Way to go Austin!!! 👍 Those tips for breaking loose the bolts are great! Those are the types of little things that us "old guys" just do automatically, and sometimes forget that the newer people haven't learned about that yet! Great job all!!

Had an old 68 Chrysler wagon. Loaded. 440. Super Commando ) That. Old wagon waa a Blast ) Old Skool Sleeper. ; )))

I've done the same thing, removing parts in sub zero weather in deep snow. Not fun . You're a lucky man if you pull an engine where all the fasters come free with minimum effort!

An old timer mechanic gave me crap about using my palm to hit the wrench telling me I was going to get bone spurs. Long live UTG

Great basic tech!

Some of us don't have gorrilla mitts, I always use a hammer instead of my hand to break bolts loose.

As a professional mechanic in Canada, buy impact tools. They're worth it. Impact wrenches are obvious but impact screwdrivers are a revelation.

57 yrs young ) my buddy took his brothers stock. 67 olds culess to the local track. Brown County Indy. His brother was pissed. Till he found out he came in second ). Beat his e t ))

Well done Austin

Most educational video on any subject I’ve ever seen. Thank you UTG.

Hitting the head of the bolt / nut imprints the part it is holding on and slightly reduces tension making it easier to remove. This works great with bolts that have copper washers for sealing. Also, use a T handle breaker bar as this imparts pure torque to the bolt rather than a bending moment that binds threads or makes the tool tend to fall off.

this guy one of a kind you do not find people like Tony any more original DiY 👌

Those rear bolts were going to be easy bc of the valve cover gasket leaking oil onto them. Wherever there's an oil leak, there's a soaked bolt that won't put up a fight.

Great wrenching tips Uncle Tony!

Speaking of price changes, LKQ is now charging for an extended warranty without asking and/or mentioning it. If you don't want it, you have to tell them.

Well done Austin! Takes dedication for sure! And the back and forth tip is exactly spot on! It works on Ford water pumps. (And any other bolts ive bumped into). A lot of good little tips on this one UT! Thanks!

Good advice uncle tony for a young man/woman getting into working on vehicles my dad taught me that trick years ago and I still use it

As always UT I got something from this video.I used the 'back and forth' method on a stubborn oxygen sensor in my daily rice. It worked out well and not half the ass-buster I expected it to be.

5:48 seriously great video . Old school bmf.

So that's why I break so many bolts 😂. I didn't realize the smacking action was a thing. Probably my biggest regret is not learning automotive repair when I was younger because I enjoy it what little I know