Exhaust Manifold Bolt (Heli-coil or not)

[performance1985]

After fighting with 3 broken exhaust manifold bolts on my 06 "Hoe", I was able to get two out with channel locks and I had to drill (left-hand bit) out the other one. I followed up with a chase of up to an 8mm tap.

My question is, do I need to Heli-coil this hole now or will the tap I completed hold?

I hate to put new headers on this thing only to find out that it is leaking at the front bolt hole. It seems like after tapping it again that the threads are good, but I don't have a lot of experience with aluminum heads - so looking for a little professional guidance.

 

[dropmech]

As long as you tapped it to the same size and thread pitch it originally was, you won't need a heli-coil. Make sure you put some kind of hi-temp anti-seize on the threads of the new bolts though.