Tool to drill hole in studs for castle nuts
 

Ok, I'm gonna be turboing my car soon and I want to use caster nuts and cotter pins on the turbo to manifold nuts as well as the down pipe nuts. Seen this done on a fox body at the local 1/8 mile and he said it works flawlessly. Or wire them together so even if the stud came loose, it still couldn't get loose. I can buy studs at Autozone for cheap but I'll need to drill a hole through them so I can cotter pin/wire the caster nuts. Reason for doing this is so my ---- never gets loose or course.

Hard part is drilling a hole through a stud. No easy way to drill a hole in it cause the stud is round. Unless I had like a 1/8" 2 flute plunge cutter in a mill and a jig to hold the stud, but I don't have a mill. But I do got a drill press. I'm thinking build a jig to do this. Say I use 3/8-16 studs. Well, i cut me a piece of 1"x 2" bar stock, then drill a 1/8 hole through it close to the edge Then flip the part 90* and drill and tap it, perpendicular to the 1/8" hole. So now I can thread a stud in and there will be a 1/8" hole to steady the drill bit to drill through the stud. Sound like a plan? Any easier way to do the same thing? Or link to studs that are already drilled. :8

Re: Tool to drill hole in studs for castle nuts
 

What about an automatic center punch and a really small drill bit with the stud in a vice. Then clean up the threads with a thread chaser. The small hole would work for safety wire which i think would be better than a cotter pin.

Re: Tool to drill hole in studs for castle nuts
 

What's an automatic center punch? I could put aluminum around the jaws of the vise or copper so it won't damage the threads. Agreed safety wire would be better. I'll probably use that as I could see cotter pins rattling, as well as causing the whole stud to just back out.

Re: Tool to drill hole in studs for castle nuts
 

Googled automatic center punch. Those are neat. Yeah, that might work. I'd try that before making the jig I described above.

Re: Tool to drill hole in studs for castle nuts
 

Yeah they are a handy cheap little tool. So nice when you need a free hand instead of ------- with a hammer.

Re: Tool to drill hole in studs for castle nuts
 

wtf.....

really?

The castle nut itself is a pretty ------- good jig. Or you can use a regular nut. It has 6 flat sides, pick one. Use a drill. No mill, jig, or press required.

Re: Tool to drill hole in studs for castle nuts
 

id say put the nut on the bolt, put in vise... then drill. it will help you center and keep the bit from bouncing around the rest.

Re: Tool to drill hole in studs for castle nuts
 

Ha, well, there's an easier way. I'll just drill a nut and use that as the jig. Double nut it so the nut can't spin relative to the stud while I'm drilling. Should work fine I suppose.

Re: Tool to drill hole in studs for castle nuts
 

Is this what your looking for?
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/SAFETY...TURE,2927.html

Re: Tool to drill hole in studs for castle nuts
 

:y Might buy that. Yeah, that would get er done.