Stripped Head Bolt Hole!!! HELP!!!
Stripped Head Bolt Hole!!! HELP!!! Ok so after fixing all the flaws and ready to go ahead put the head back on the car and get things going good again. I put all the bolts in the head and tighten them down. I go to break out the torque wrench set it at 22ft-lbs. I go to the first bolt on the whole bolt diagram. I am wrenching it and it is just spinning. I know in my head **** so I stop. I go to take the bolt back out and figure out what the heck. I pull the bolt out to find the threads from the block are wrapped around the bolt. I know that I am fugged at this point. I don't want to try this again. So I stop and take the head back off. I take my bolt and can thread it all the way and pull and its in there snug. I can't pull it out i don't try and torque it down because I don't want to strip the rest of the threads out. I have searched and searched threw the boards and can not find anything good except that maybe I need the "time-sert". I need the best advice that I can get on this. I am very nervous and don't understand why that this happend. I don't want to have to get a new block at this point. I know I am going to need get something. My question will a heli coil hold the head bolt in? I also need to know what the thread pattern is for this also. Thanks for all the help with this but I am just totally lost here. Thanks Trevor
you said "bolt hole". thats always funny to me.
I've done that and freaked out too, if you have a good machine shop take it to them and they will helicoil it. Or you can do it yourself by buying it at a auto store, but the machine shop I did mine with seemed a lot more heavier duty than the ones they sell at the store. its a pretty quick fix and not expensive. just take your time with them
And you might want to use studs too, they are a little more forgiving than screws.
I've done that and freaked out too, if you have a good machine shop take it to them and they will helicoil it. Or you can do it yourself by buying it at a auto store, but the machine shop I did mine with seemed a lot more heavier duty than the ones they sell at the store. its a pretty quick fix and not expensive. just take your time with them
And you might want to use studs too, they are a little more forgiving than screws.
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 40
Likes: 0
From: Federal Way WA
^^ +1 yupp a machine shop could do it in less than an hour. The thing i would make sure that if you do it yourself is you get the right angle into the block so the head bolt properly torques down. then your good to go
It is an 11mm with a 2.0 pitch. I had the same problem, my old mechanic stripped out the hole. The tap was special order and cost over $100. I just tapped out the hole to a 1/2 inch and had a custom stud made. It has held so far at over 600 rwhp. I read somewhere that ARP has the same stud size I used for a viper motor.
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The GM Service Manual tells you how to correct this with a helicoil. A Keensert will require a much larger hole be drilled, I personally wouldn't go that route on a block. For example, one of the items we are working with right now has a 1/4-20 Keensert in it but the outer thread requires was 11/16-14.
That's a fair question vettenuts...
I've used the time-serts for other applications, other than LSX head bolts.
These links might be helpful to Trev_SS.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...3998&viewitem=
http://www.timesert.com/html/gen3HEA...structions.pdf
The concerns I've thought of ... For an F-body ...
Its seems like it would be a tight fit for a drill near the cowl area.
With the motor in the car.
.
How many threads are damaged? If you use an insert you need to make sure the insert threads are indexed to the remaining undamaged threads. A stud might be a good choise for this one fastener. How did this fastener feel when it was removed to take the heads off? Did you "feel" anything different about the way it came out? Did you buy this motor second hand? It may have already been damaged by the time you pulled the heads off. You don't have to be a surgeon to tear a motor apart and put it back together, but you do have to have a certain degree of sensitivity in your hands and finger when installing and removing fasteners to be able to tell when something isn't right like a fastner is cross threaded. This is the kind of thing that is hard to explain to someone else, but if you don't understand the concept you can do major damage.