I'm working on getting rid of the cloudiness inside our Mini's factory rally lights. I've got one off, and rinsed some isopropyl alcohol around inside the lens. It seems to have worked so far, but it needs to dry out to be sure.

Anyway, the other light is still on the car as one of the bolts is just spinning in place. The captive "nut" has detached from the bracket, and it's not a nut... it's round on the outside, and it has rusted to the bolt.

Has anyone got a bright idea for getting it out? I've tried needle nose pliers to hold the nut, as well as tried shoving a fine screwdriver in beside the nut to jam it in place. There's no room on top or underneath to get a spanner in there. I don't think a dremel cutting wheel will fit either.




Bolt and nut stuck in rally light mount



Rinsed with isopropyl alcohol - looking good so far!

 

Giving up and going to have a Firday night beer. Might try to grind the captive nut down with a dremel grinding head tomorrow.

 

I can't see a way to unscrew the bolt, so I've pushed the captive nut back into pace along with some epoxy adhesive. Will see if it grabs well enough for me to take it apart another day. The captive set-up is similar to that on our headlight mounts, where the captive can also rust and then spin with the bolt. The difference being that on the rally lights the captive is in a metal mount, not a plastic one.