[67ChevyRedneck]

But, let me tell you a story about a bolt...

This little guy stripped out (seized from rust) so I used an impact to remove it. Bolt came right out... as did the rusty threads. The PS was fine, just the DS was rusty. Only the threads were rusty... weird, after a cleaning the bolt was still 100% OK. No other rust or patch panels anywhere on the car...

On Saturday I drove to 7 different stores to find a 1/2"-13 Helicoil kit. FINALLY found one at O'reilly. But they didn't have it, their store 15 minutes away had it. Went to that store. Apparently they thought they were supposed to send it to the first store. Their parts guy left with it before I got there. Had to go BACK to first store to get it. So after 3 hours on Sat and a really upset wife who thought we were going on a short adventure... I had what I needed. The tool kit was $28 though!

Had fun sat night and a fun day Sunday with the wife, saw Hangover III and Fast 6 and didn't get to the car.

So I go to work on it today. I knew I needed a 17/32 drill bit, however the bolt hole was literally shaved smooth from the impact removal so I thought I could thread it...

Nope...

Off to Lowes. $16 for a drill bit. Took about 2 hours total to get it all done.

So overall - About 5 hours time. $44. One hell of a sore shoulder and I have the damn thing fixed!

Now, I'm not a fan of Helicoils. However, in this instance it was my only viable option. My other option was to cut a hole in the side apron/frame of the car and replace the capture nut in there and weld my hole up... after I first removed the DS suspension from the car... yeah... no... The bolt torqued down tight like the other side, so I'm good with it.

There's also a lot of thread in there, that hole was probably more than 1/2" deep.