Hm ive been looking around for ways to repair the stripped sparky socket and stumbled upon Heli-coil. It sounds easy enough and I can do it when I rebuild the engine since the head has to come off to do it.
What are you guys thoughts and opinions on it?
It works, I've used them.
Phil
If you're rebuilding the engine, I would skip the heli-coil, and get a head from a junkyard. The Helicoil may be fine, but it's probably going to cost you as much as a junkyard head would. Plus it would be less work and (I would think) probably more reliable to not have the helicoil in there.
It comes down to time and money. If you have the time to search around to find the perfect head casting to rebuild and you can get it for cheap then it might be worth it to do that. Otherwise, it's probably faster and cheaper to just put in an insert. Check with your shop to see what they would charge to do it. If it's only $20 or so, have them do it and move on. The inserts are steel and will be stronger than the head casting itself, so no worries about them not being strong enough.
The head I'm rebuilding needs 2 of the plug holes repaired as well as several of the exhaust manifold stud holes. In my case I'm going to fix it because the shop already started working on it and I don't want to throw away what they've already done. I might even do all 4 plugs just so that I don't have any problems with the remaining 2 later on.
C|
Originally Posted by nswst8
Which ones did you use? The Helicoils or another brand?
C|
Helicoil.
Phil
I would use the helicoil brand, nothing wrong with it, watch out for the off brands. since the head has to come off anyway it's easy to do. a lot of people who race cars with aluminum heads install them on all the plugs, they are much stronger then the factory threads if done right.
Alright. I will use the helicoil. Do I have to order it off the net or do random autoparts shops sell em?
Before the rebuild im going to cover up the missing vacuum cap and see if that cancels the problem out. Hopefully it does.
Gotta wait till this Friday before I can do it.
Most autoparts stores carry them. But you will find a better price online.
Phil
Exactly what I was going to say!
Cylinder #1 seems the one I see the most with stripped threads because of the angle the spark plugs are threaded in and the power steering pump that's a bit in the way.
http://pages.videotron.com/omus
3geez member since July 12 2000
I need these parts!
https://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=67742
Got the Heli-coil. Going to put it in tommorow more than likely. Going to be busy all day today.
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