Broken seat belt bolt.

We have a 68 Chevelle that came back from the body shop this past Thursday. New pass compartment and trunk floor was installed. They did a real nice job. I took yesterday off to reinstall the interior w/plans to drive it to dinner for our 32nd anniversary.

The 1st seat belt bolt was real tight. Cleaned up threads w/a tap of the proper size. The tap ran up and down w/one finger but installing the bolt was still tight. I used my 1/2" impact, running it up and down a little at a time. All 4 front belts/bolts were installed.

I went to install the seats but couldn't find the holes. I went to remove the outer driver side belt/bolt, but dummy Don had the impact gun set to tighten and snapped the bolt head off.

I was able to drill a small hole thru the bolt w/somewhat minimal effort, drilled a size or 2 bigger also w/minimal effort. I read here, a post about ez-outs, where someone used an allen wrench to back out the bolt. I was able to pound an allen wrench into the hole. Used an 8" piece of 1/2" black pipe as a cheater and immediately snapped the allen wrench at the bend. The allen wrench sparked when it broke. Used a pipe wrench on the stub, but have snapped that as well. You can see, but can not access bolt from below. The broken bolt never moved.

Got out the die grinder and flatten the wrench to top of hole, center punched, started drilling. After 2 hours, and many different drill bits, I've made virtually no progress. Drill speed fast, slow, with or without oil makes no difference.

While the wife understands that "excrement occurs" I can tell her patience is wearing thin, doesn't want me to mess up a brand new floor.

FWIW....my only heat wrench is a small propane bottle. My SIL (2 hr. round trip drive) has, I think, a stick welder.

Sorry post is so long. I wanted all to know what has been done so far. Thanks for your time. I do appreciate it.

.....don t. .....

Don- these seat belt mounting pads were usually put in place with 4 big old spot welds...you could drill the spot welds and remove the pad so that you can at least work on it on a bench, and then secure with 3/8th hardware or have rewelded. You may end up cutting the captured nut off and welding on a new one, then welding the pad back on.
I know- a lot more work than you bargained for.

Jose...thanks for the info. One quick problem w/this, access under the floor is very limited. Front side of nut, no problem. Back side, the frame is there. The other 2, best chance is a 45 degree angle on the weld. No way for a straight on drill. Im thinking cut off wheel but????

Could it be my drill bits, which I have a box of when my FIL passed over 25 years ago. Some/all may be dull, and I have never sharpened a bit.

Thanks again.....don t. ....

Pack it up and take it to someone with a good plasma cutter. It should be possible to blow that allen wrench/bolt out with minimal paint damage, probably NONE if you pack wet rags around the accident scene.

If you use plasma cutter or any heat source, be sure there is not a fuel or brake line underneath .. No insult intended, but things are easy to overlook, when you are frustrated with a task... Good Luck..

watch for wiring on the other side also. Don't ask...

been there done that! And that spreading fuel line fire that's now covering the garage floor in a 10 foot perimeter around the car is hard to see through a welding mask, aint it!