[T3] stripped head stud, and accompanying self-pity..

["Mike Wodkowski" <lovekeira@earthlink.net>]

So here I am all ready to put in my new isolator/insulator blocks and as Jim
had suspected my studs were too short to accommodate the additional 5mm of
the blocks. So I get some 40mm long ones after careful measurement and using
the two locking nut method and alot of arm strength and patience, I pull
one, two three studs and on the 4th - no dice. This is the story of probably
everyone'ss VW life. Nothing is easy, and nothing is easy especially when
you're almost done.
Its the stud next to #4 cylinder. I got the 2 nuts locked and TWISTED the
bottom one with all my might - the top nut wasn't moving and the bottom one
was so as the sun was gone and the shadows cast by my work light were
obstructive and the experience of the other 3 was similar, I presumed the
stud was moving . TWIST, TWIST, TWIST. Then I looked real close. The stud
wasn't budging. Neither was the top nut. I was just twisting the bottom one
round and round, totaling the threads.
This stud wont move at all. Vice grips just chew up the the stud, and theres
no room for a hack saw in there to try to cut a slot for a screw-driver.
PLEASE, I don't have the know-how nor the available friends nor a VW
mechanic
I can trust to pull this engine, nor the time. Not yet. Does anyone know how
I can get this damn thing out? It IS wiggling a little - but not enough.
Heat seems a little scary right there at the head in that small space and I
only have a propane torch anyway.
So can someone guide me through this. I was so CLOSE to having my
carburetors set up to, well, as good as they CAN be under the circumstances.
This hump I've been trying to get over has become a black hole. I need this
car to get to my studio, and frankly its been the only thing holding my life
together, which is falling apart at the seams. I hate my job, I cant get
anyone interested in my art, my relationship is rocky and I'm flat broke. To
have this IDIOTIC thing on top of it is just the straw that broke the
Square's back. Help. Please.

Mike

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