65 Barracuda daily driver
Sometimes you think you have a plan and then you realize it's not gonna work after all haha. I couldn't get a drill in there without pulling the engine or the head. Also drilling drilling perpendicular to the surface would have been a challenge. So I decided to give the old heli coil another shot. This time I bought the tool, luckily it was on sale for 10 bucks at Autozone - usually they are around $30. This time I wanted to give it the best chance possible. So I cleaned the hole out with a round wire brush, cleaned it with brake clean, then used the tap that comes with the kit and cleaned everything again. As you can see in the photo below the threads are still not perfect, but there wasn't a lot I could do about it.
Since you have to break off that little tab at the end of the heli coil after installation, I tied some sewing thread to it, because I didn't want it to end up in the cooling system. Last time I didn't recover it and I don't think it's the end of the world, but better safe than sorry and so on... Anyways, I got some of that Permatex High Temp Thread sealant and applied it to the heli coil.
It actually worked and was able to pull the tab out after installation.
I let the sealant cure (not sure if that was the best choice?!) and then I filled the radiator with coolant again. I wanted to see how the stud was doing under pressure so I hooked up a little tire inflator to the overflow hose and put my palm over the filler neck. I'm sure it's nowhere near as much pressure as you get when the engine is hot and the thermostat is open, but it was the best I could do.
No leak was visible, so I installed the Remflex gasket and was able to torque all bolts and studs to 20 ft lbs. So the heli coil worked, but who knows if it still seals under pressure. Someone suggested Alumaseal Stop Leak powder and I will add that as an extra insurance.
Now I still need to torque the output flange to 180 ft lbs. The force itself will be an issue, but also holding the flange. The manual says to use tool C-3281, but that's not something you can just pick up at a parts store, so I will probably take some steel flat bar and drill 2 holes into it.
Getting closer...
Sometimes you think you have a plan and then you realize it's not gonna work after all haha. I couldn't get a drill in there without pulling the engine or the head. Also drilling drilling perpendicular to the surface would have been a challenge. So I decided to give the old heli coil another shot. This time I bought the tool, luckily it was on sale for 10 bucks at Autozone - usually they are around $30. This time I wanted to give it the best chance possible. So I cleaned the hole out with a round wire brush, cleaned it with brake clean, then used the tap that comes with the kit and cleaned everything again. As you can see in the photo below the threads are still not perfect, but there wasn't a lot I could do about it.
Since you have to break off that little tab at the end of the heli coil after installation, I tied some sewing thread to it, because I didn't want it to end up in the cooling system. Last time I didn't recover it and I don't think it's the end of the world, but better safe than sorry and so on... Anyways, I got some of that Permatex High Temp Thread sealant and applied it to the heli coil.
It actually worked and was able to pull the tab out after installation.
I let the sealant cure (not sure if that was the best choice?!) and then I filled the radiator with coolant again. I wanted to see how the stud was doing under pressure so I hooked up a little tire inflator to the overflow hose and put my palm over the filler neck. I'm sure it's nowhere near as much pressure as you get when the engine is hot and the thermostat is open, but it was the best I could do.
No leak was visible, so I installed the Remflex gasket and was able to torque all bolts and studs to 20 ft lbs. So the heli coil worked, but who knows if it still seals under pressure. Someone suggested Alumaseal Stop Leak powder and I will add that as an extra insurance.
Now I still need to torque the output flange to 180 ft lbs. The force itself will be an issue, but also holding the flange. The manual says to use tool C-3281, but that's not something you can just pick up at a parts store, so I will probably take some steel flat bar and drill 2 holes into it.
Getting closer...
