Hey everyone: While I'm freshening up the interior I thought I'd send the seat belts out to be rewebbed with fresh belting. All was fine until I tried to remove the upper bolts on the sail. REALLY tight. I sure don;t want to strip one of these out or have a bolt break. I can live with the old belts if I have to. Anyone else had difficulty removing these?
RobClick to view attachment

Use an impact or breaker bar and it will come right out , will not strip ! Lefty loosy righty tighty !

Thanks, but............if it does strip or break off I'm really screwed. I purposely did not hit it with an impact, used a 1/2" ratchet first. Felt like 80-90 ft/lbs to get it turning. Anyone else have suggestions?

I personally think impacts are easier on hardware than breaker bars. I’ve snapped off a lot of bolt heads to draw that conclusion. It can also help to tighten a bolt a millimeter before you loosen.

I’ve parted out a lot of rusty cars and yes, the seat belt bolts are always tight but I’ve never snapped them.

The internet agrees with me;
It seems that an impact gun does much better job handling an over-torqued nut. The continues force that a breaker bar imposes can easily destroy bolts or studs. Whereas, an impact gun can open nuts with no damage.Nov 1, 2015
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Does using an impact wrench instead of a breaker bar prevent In most cases, using an impact gun will be less likely to cause the fastener to fail. Here is my reasoning: Impact guns provide high torque for very short periods of time. This jarring action or "impact" is going to be more likely to free the fastener.Jul 23, 2015
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Which is least likely to cause twisting off of rusted bolts? Impact gun or ...

For a hard to remove bolt you can:

1- Add heat. Not recommended when next to plastic.

2- Use Liquid wrench, or a similar product. It would be a mess.

3- Use a breaker bar and apply slow steady pressure and hope for the best.

Agree with mepstein on the impact. A breaker has a much higher chance of damage than an impact. A 1/2” impact will zip that out no problem.

I'm pretty sure those are SAE bolts. Maybe the PO put metric hardware in there...

Thanks Fellas! I'll have a go tomorrow after a little soak time with some PB. After the feedback and some thought I agree that one of my impacts will be a better choice than a large bar. Stay tuned in!

When it comes to corroded hardware, us east coasters are experts. We buy from the west coast so we don’t have to deal with it.

That holds true in plumbing too. Try to remove a rusty nipple from the top of an old water heater with a 24" pipe wrench and it will oval the nipple and lock in place. Use a 14" wrench, apply about 20 lbs force to the middle of the wrench handle and simultaneously strike a quick blow on the end of the handle with a 3# hand sledge and it will pop loose every time.

Somehow, I feel like I’ll use that technique years from now even though I have no desire to ever own a home with steel piping lol…

+1, my vote goes with an impact.

Impact or sledgehammer, the impulse will break it loose.
Also, those are 7/16-18 bolts; the only SAE fasteners on a Porsche. Something about the US market and seat belts.

So after soaking with some PB for a few hours my little impact had no problem getting them out. It is interesting that these may be SAE threads, they came out looking like they were an interference fit. No rust or corrosion at all, or any sign of a thread locker.
Anyway, thanks everyone. Whew!

They are sae. Required in the US since I think the mid 60’s.

You shouldn't be able to break the heads off on these as the engineering spec calls for a hardened bolt. And yes impact is the way to go.