Aircon Compressor Shear Plate Bolt

This may be a stupid question but here goes:

My AC has suffered from the common loose bolt problem where the bolt worked out a bit and the splines on the shear plate wore away so it wouldn't turn. I ordered a replacement shear plate kit and set out to fix it but had a lot of trouble removing the central bolt. As there were no splines it just span when i tried to undo it so I followed the advice on another thread and chopped it off in order to get below and grip the shaft but then couldn't get it out whatever I've tried...

Long story short I've now tried to drill it out and tap the hole and snapped the cheap tap in there too  so the compressor is a gonner I think as no bolt will ever go in. My question is how important is that central bolt? Clearly it loosening caused the initial failure but if I now have an "improved part" will it be ok without and not wear or shall I just write the whole thing off and save up for a new compressor?

Thanks