Driver-side engine mount bolt stripping.

[Ben Fenner]

I'm getting some minor things fixed before I do some major upgrades.

I've been dealing with this problem for quite a while now. I stripped
the driver-side engine mount bolt, it walked out, and I've been without
it for a while. I have hard engine mounts, so there hasn't been much
movement, but I want to fix the problem. The bolt was stripped, and I
assumed the nut was stripped as well, so I was prepared for a drill/tap
scenerio (because welding a new nut on is a no-go due to access
problems). Today I went out to do the repair. Before drilling and
tapping, I checked to see if the nut was really ruined. I threaded in a
bolt, and tightened it up to about 45 ft/lbs. and removed it. It looked
fine, and the nut held the torque, so I figured I'd lucked out. I put
the engine mount in place, and tightened the bolt without ever getting
to the 45 ft/lbs. I stripped the bolt. I removed the bolt, put it
through a die, and decided to place a wide washer between the mount and
the bracket (for kicks?). I then put a locking washer on the bolt,
followed by another wide washer. I figured this would help by preventing
the bolt from walking out if I ended up stripping it again, and it would
stop the bolt from driving in deep enough to reach the bad threads. I
tried to tighten it enough, but not too much, and I've left it like
that. I fear I've stripped it again though, and I'll probably loose this
bolt in a month or two like I lost the last one.
Either way, I'd rather have it out of my mind. I want to wrench this
bolt down as hard as I wrench down all of the others. Am I just an idiot
for not drilling and tapping? Should I just order a new bolt, and
drill/tap the crap out of it, and call it a day?

Semi-frustrated,

-Ben Fenner
1994 Black SE-R