Crank threads are stripped? need help here..
TECH Resident
Joined: Nov 2002
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They may not be stripped, there may just be a lot of debris in there. you can try taking an old crank bolt, and grind two sides flat (kinda what guys have been doing to clean out their head bolt holes. Spray WD-40 in the crank hole and on the bolt, and slowly/gently work the bolt in and out. Then maybe blow some air in there to clean it out and repeat until it goes in easy. Good luck.
Tommy
Tommy
I once damaged the first couple of threads too. I went to a local parts supplier and bought the correct tap. I simply put the tap in and cleaned the threads back up and everything was ok. If you can find out what the correct size/pitch the threads are, I'd use the tap to clean them up rather than go larger.
Q
Q
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Verdad Gallardo TECH Resident
Joined: Nov 2002
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I did a few searches for you. It seems as though many believe a helicoil would be stronger than the original threads if installed correctly. here is a link:
http://www.hillcliff-tools.com/helicoil.html
Tommy
http://www.hillcliff-tools.com/helicoil.html
Tommy
TECH Resident
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 865
Likes: 1
From: central TX
I snapped off my crank bolt while pulling on a new pulley last year. Couldn't get that thing out to save my life. There just wasn't any way to get an ez-out/extractor back to where it had snapped off (about 3" inside the crank snout).
I towed the car to a machinist to see what he could do. He couldn't get it out either, but he was able to tap the available 3" while the engine was in the car (radiator removed) and put in a new, bigger bolt. It has been working fine so far, but it's only been a couple of months...
Anyway, point is: you *can* tap it with the crank still in the engine, and the engine still in the car...
Good luck,
Shane
I towed the car to a machinist to see what he could do. He couldn't get it out either, but he was able to tap the available 3" while the engine was in the car (radiator removed) and put in a new, bigger bolt. It has been working fine so far, but it's only been a couple of months...
Anyway, point is: you *can* tap it with the crank still in the engine, and the engine still in the car...
Good luck,
Shane
I am helping BLKWS6 with his problem and we have a couple of idea's to try before things get desperate, let me know what you think of these, Napa has the correct size bolts in 10mm increments as stated we tried a 120mm length bolt and it held better than the stock bolt but still "spun" a little while turning the motor over to check the dot to dot on the cam, now I ordered three other bolts that are 130mm 140mm and 150mm in length, the bolts aren't TTY but they should hold no problem if they can catch enough threads to lock down tight correct? Also we thought of installing a threaded piece of rod possibly locked down with JB weld etc, and using a locking type fastener to secure the balancer, this would allow Jason to install cams like most people change underware as he is prone to do 
without worrys that will it hold the next time, any thoughts? Thanks
without worrys that will it hold the next time, any thoughts? Thanks 
I'd still try to clean up/save/utilize the threads you've got. If yer going to that extent(locking down longer rod), may as well tack weld it in 3-4 spots also. Just not sure I'd be comfy w/3-4 threads and lock tight. Like the idea for easy cam swaps. Good luck....keep us posted.
