Hey all,

I'm in the process of installing dual springs, and yella terra 1.8's. The #8 rocker bolt came out hard all the way, and I had a pretty good idea of what was happening- and sure enough, aluminum shavings on the bolt, they are not completely stripped, but the bolt will not thread by hand, anb puts up pretty good resistance to a ratchet. What are my options-drill/tap, helicoil, suicide? any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

heli coil that mother and be done with it.

 

Take a 8mm tap and chase threw the threads to cleanup, If not ,I used helicoils on mine ,They are stronger than the original threads

 

Stock heads? If not, you may want to pull the intake to clean metal shavings in the intake port.

 

Thanks for the input guys, I did the heli-coil, and it seems to have worked fine, I cant actually see it as its the #8 hole, and the everlovin' cowl is in the way, but from what I can tell using a slightly longer bolt (50mm) threaded all the way to the bottom, I will have 8 or 9 threads engaged after torquing. I hope that is enough, but I figure the stainless threads are that much stronger than the original Al. threads. Keeping My fingers crossed.

 

You can stack the helicoils if need to to add threads, but before you brake off the tab, But if you need or want to add a coil you can remove the old coil by pulling out the first ring and twist it out

 

I thought about trying that, but the first heli-coil is 3/8" deep in the hole, so my only choice would be stacking, my concern is two-fold, what if the heli-coil threads dont exactly line up, and secondly, what happens if the break-off tab on the second coil wont break or gets stuck in the lower threads? I guess I should take a poll-stay with one heli-coil deep in the hole and accepting the bolt, or gamble and try to stack-do I really need more than 9 stainless threads to keep a rocker arm located? Anyone? Bueller? seriously though thanks for the responses, yesterday at this time I was feeling pretty depressed and alone, but I think I can now see some daylight!

 

I work in fab shop and installed a lot of helicoils, and double and triplied stacked them and never had a misalignment , They are made to stack

 

Good to know, I guess I'll try it.

 

Randy ws6-You are a genius, and a lifesaver!!! I tried your suggestion and it worked to perfection! I now have 26 mm of stainless threads, and the bolt threads in without a hitch-I would NEVER have tried this without Your advice, I cannot thank you enough. Next time Im in Ky, Ill look You up with a handshake , a case of beer, and a grin from ear to ear! Thanks again!!!

Todd

 

Glad to help. It good to make a new friend .

 

That # 8 was hard to get to I bet. How did you drill it out so the helicoil would fit?

I am glad it worked.

Bill

 

With my experience with the LS1 heads ,when the original threads are pulled ,the hole that it leaves is perfect for the helicoil tap, I put grease on the tap to catch the cutling that caused by the tap.

 

That is good to know but I hope I never have that problem.

Bill

 

Good hint about the grease. Helps catch that crap before it falls in the motor. Works well. Helicoil = Win!

 

Great info guys. I'll remember this.

 

Like Randy ws6 said, the stripped out hole allowed me to turn the helicoil tap with just a standard tap wrench by hand. I used the cutting oil method, and just to be sure, I laid an old t-shirt in the rocker valley. All in all, helicoil is the shizz-nit, took my time, and it came out better than I would have ever thought.

 

How did you get the tabs out of the helicoils w/out dropping them into the port/engine? Can you install the first helicoil and leave the tab...and then stack a second one and reach in and snap it out and remove it? Also, I run a 595/605 lift cam and my rocker stud pulled out far enough to allow the rocker to operate very loosely. I hope I didn't bend or ding a valve into a piston. I guess the only way to find out is to pull the head. Any thoughts? I suppose I could get a borescope or something that will allow me to see the top of the piston through the spark plug hole...if I can take a look...I'll see if there is an "eyebrow" created from the valve kissing the piston. Any thoughts?

 

I use a narrow neck needle nose pliers