318 Water Pump Bolt That "Always Wants to Leak" Story

Just did a water pump bolt on the lower drivers side one. Pulled it out and found the bolt threads were only in an 1/8”. Like a thread and a half. Made a new bolt (cut down a longer bolt and re-threaded it.grade8) then cleaned the hole with brake clean- let it dry and rtv on the threads and tightened down. I let it sit a day before I added coolant and pressure. Seems good now.