Help!! Can I Helicoil or not

[Cole's 87]

Sorry I havent been around lately I just finished a shutdown 3weeks of 7/12's.

Went to fix a blown header gasket and the very last bolt on the driver side head stripped Since you have to drill the hole over to the next size so there is enough room for the helicoil and bolt. Is there any reason that this would be a problem such as getting into a water jacket.

Any help in this area will greatly appreciated.

[swervin ervin]

I believe before I tried a heli coil, I would try tapping it up to the next size bolt, which will be 7/16", or at least a different thread. You will probably need to drill out the header flange hole to be able to get the bolt through too.

[1FaastC10]

yes, you can helicoil it. aluminum hemi race blocks use helicoils to hold the heads to the block. those blocks and heads see 10x the pressure yours ever will, so i dont see what helicoiling a header bolt would hurt.

[mike reeh]

jeremy, his concern was busting thru into a water jacket. not whether or not the heli coil would be strong enough to hold the headers on.

Cole: go for it, you will be fine. 75% of the header (exhaust manifold) bolt holes on my '77 sbc400 are heli coiled. And one of them has a tine-sert (sp?) in it.. on old crust iron heads, I almost PREFER to have them all heli coiled. cuz if its sketchy at ALL now, well the next time you're messing with it, it might stirp out.. its just a matter of time.

mike

[87 STEPPER]

Go for it just make shure you get the hole drilled perfectly stright cuz it's gonna be tight back there and you may want to consider installing a stud in that hole.

Let us know how it turns out.

[Cole's 87]

Thanks for the help guy's . I think i'm going to give Mike's idea a try before the helicoil thing.