Stripped Harmonic Balancer Bolt, Doh!

T40-45 don't remember which one but hammer it in also works for valve cover bolts that have strpped

I would recommend that when you break loose the harmonic balancer bolts, you turn them only 1/4 turn or less. Seems to me they work loose a little better if you get all of the m a little loose at the same amount. Why? I'm not sure but if I don't do that, at least one of the bolts will.not.come.out. And I end up using one of the Irwin sockets mentioned above nearly every time. They work on the valve cover allen heads as well. Not the same socket of course, but the same type. It is just trickier getting the ones under the intake manifold loose since you have so much less room there.

Good luck,

PH

I always just put my snap on 3/8 drive short bit in each head and whack with a hammer a few times before using the zap gun. Works almost every time. When it doesn’t I have a sacrificial 12mm 12 point socket that once driven on with a few hammer taps gets them every time.

An air chisel with a punch bit in the allan socket hole and a small vice grip works very well too.

The next timing belt I do for myself will have intake manifold studs to hold the dampener on. They are the right length and I'll red Lock tight them into the crank and blue Lock tight the nuts. I just about did it on a customer car but wanted to try it on my own car first.