JIM HOLSONBACK wrote in a message to ROY J. TELLASON:

 JH> Hi, Roy.

-=> ROY J. TELLASON wrote to JIM HOLSONBACK <=-
 JH> 
 JH> In the earlier thread, BIR the main suggestion was to buy the torx
 JH> bit with the little hole in the tip to receive the pin.

 RJT> These days I would probably be so inclined,  particularly as they seem
 RJT> to be more available than they used to be.  I could be mistaken,  but I
 RJT> think I even recall seeing them at Sears.

 JH> See my msg to Phil Marlowe.  Sears may not have them any more.

I haven't looked.  And if not Sears,  there are other sources of tools around...

 JH> In some of the recent replies, folks have suggested some more 
 JH> alternatives. BIR, I've had a bit of success sometimes with taking
 JH> a center punch and knocking the top of that pin down far enough
 JH> that a standard Torx bit would fit down in there far enough to
 JH> catch.

 JH> I think I meant to say "pin punch" there, but no telling what I
 JH> actually used ;-), and it may not have worked on all of them.
 JH> 

 RJT> Heh.  Red hot?  I don't think I've ever gone quite that far...

 JH> I wasn't happy with myself.

:-)

 RJT> Worst experience I had with drilling was in my car.  I noticed a little
 RJT> leak around the thermostat area,  so I figured I'd put a new gasket on
 RJT> there.  The one bolt came out easy enough,  but the other one snapped
 RJT> off.  Dumb design, instead of just having them poke into the intake
 RJT> they had it in a little pocket,  where anything that got to the screw
 RJT> was gonna stay there.  So I drilled into the middle of the bolt,  stuck
 RJT> an ez-out in there,  and snapped *that* off.  Talk about some hard
 RJT> material?  I got carbide bits,  all sorts of stuff,  and nothing I
 RJT> tried would work to get that thing outta there.  I ended up going to a
 RJT> junkyard and getting another intake manifold,  and putting that on
 RJT> there.

 JH> OUCH!  I _hate_ it when my 30-minute "projects" turn into a long
 JH> weekend of hard work.

Yeah.  Sometimes what's supposed to be a simple project turns into a real
PIA. We had plans to take off for this weekend,  and I decided that an oil
change first would be a good idea.  So I did one.  No problems this time
around...

Sometimes what should be a real simple job does turn out to be a major
hassle, though.  That's why I won't work on exhaust systems,  for example, 
unless I'm replacing *all* of it.

 RJT> Next time I'll use a bigger one.  :-)

 JH> I guess there is some magic formula of what size of ez-out to use,
 JH> and you used one a bit too small?

I dunno.  Maybe I put too much torque on it?

I'd even gone as far as buying those helicoil thingies and the stuff to go
along with it,  and ended up taking all of that back.

 RJT> Just did an oil change on that car,  we're taking a little bit of a
 RJT> trip this weekend.  Oh,  and "that van" was over here
not too long ago,
 RJT> I somehow got talked into doing brakes on it.  Too bad I let people
 RJT> know I knew how to do that...  Don't like doing it,  don't care to do
 RJT> it any more!

 JH> You don't like it because it is such a chore, or because of the
 JH> safety issues?

Both,  but mostly because I hate messing with springs.  They're not so much
hard to get out,  but getting all the bits into the proper places and then
getting the new springs in is a real PIA.

 RJT> Remember that van?

 JH> The one where you didn't call before you left the hotel, but called
 JH> after you got to Orlando, and someone had left window(s) open the
 JH> evening before and we had a big afternoon/evening thunderstorm, and
 JH> rainwater got into the headlight relay, or somewhere else it
 JH> shouldn't have been, and the headlights wouldn't turn off, and
 JH> while you were waiting for me to come down from Longwood to College
 JH> Park and while we sat there in the diner and had a cup or two of
 JH> coffee, and then we went out and found the battery was dead, and we
 JH> had to go to Discount Auto Parts for you to get a set of jumper
 JH> cables, and we finally jump-started it? And when we finally got to
 JH> MCF where I volunteer, Nancy stayed out in the parking lot in the
 JH> van as it idled trying to recharge the battery?

Yeah,  that one.  I *think* they've got some electronics under the drivers
seat,  or somesuch thing.  I remember that for a while it was flashing
codes at me,  all of the dash indicators _and_ the headlights.

 JH> That the one?  Hee. Nope, I don't hardly remember that one.  [;-D.
 JH> I don't think I'd want to work on that sucker either - - it seemed
 JH> to be demon-possessed, or something.

Except for that one incident,  it's been fairly trouble-free.  And I do
believe that the owner has finally severed her connection with the idiot
that left the windows open during the storm,  too...

 JH> I've had a few run-ins with rain-caused electrical progblems also. 
 JH> I smoke in the car, and often leave the windows open a bit when I
 JH> park it, to let it air out.

That's one thing I don't do,  no matter how hot it gets.  Too many stinging
type insects around that find cars to be hospitable places.  This year I
finally got one of those silvered sunshades,  and it helps a lot.

 JH> Sometimes a rain will catch me, and I think I now have at least 
 JH> one of the window switches which won't work.  Lucky it is on the 
 JH> passenger side, and the switch on driver side will open and close 
 JH> it. 

My rear window on the driver's side doesn't work,  hasn't since I got the
car,  and I'll get around to figuring out why one of these days...  I pay
more attention to the mechanicals though.

 JH> A couple of cars ago, I had an Oldsmobile, and its problem was 
 JH> that the driver side window switch would intermittently decide to 
 JH> not work, invariably with the window in the down position.

I had a lot of problems like that with the Caddy we had before I got this
car. The previous owner tended to leave the windows open all the time,  and
the switch would fail to work a lot.  Pulling the whole switch assembly out
and going over the pins with an emery board would usually help,  though the
connector on the wires almost seemed designed to catch moisture.  Overall
I'm *really* glad to be rid of that car...

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