Stripped head bolt hole

[jrwca]

What kind of head bolts were you using? Did you clean the bolt holes?

Felpro head bolts.

I cleaned the holes, but got myself wondering if I didn't do a good enough job. Hoping i didn't miss that one, but I'm being extra cautious starting on the other side.

I have a thread chaser tap to clean them out. Crazy how much gunk came out of them.

 

[Trey Hardy]

One other thing to consider is to go with ARP head bolts when you put it back together. They are straight torque and not torque-to-yield.

I second the arp hardware plus its reusable where the stock heads bolts are usually trash after they have been stretched/torqued

 

[Trey Hardy]

I have read to make sure you blow the hole out, if not it can strip the bolt. but I don't know.

if it was my daily, I'd run a heli coil in it and call it a day.

I don’t think helicoils would hold to the torque of the head bolts that was my original option too because I was tight on cash I ended up saving up and getting the time sert kit to do it right

 

[Trey Hardy]

Felpro head bolts.

I cleaned the holes, but got myself wondering if I didn't do a good enough job. Hoping i didn't miss that one, but I'm being extra cautious starting on the other side.

I have a thread chaser tap to clean them out. Crazy how much gunk came out of them.

I ended up cutting the old stock bolts and made my own thread chaser lol

 

[Geotrash]

I don’t think helicoils would hold to the torque of the head bolts that was my original option too because I was tight on cash I ended up saving up and getting the time sert kit to do it right

Helicoils are used often on aircraft engines. They're actually preferred over bare threads in aluminum in some applications. They're plenty strong for the job on an LS head bolt.

 

[BruceW]

I have read to make sure you blow the hole out, if not it can strip the bolt. but I don't know.

if it was my daily, I'd run a heli coil in it and call it a day.

The heli coil threads are stronger then what you start with.

 

[gooffeyguy]

Helicoils are used often on aircraft engines. They're actually preferred over bare threads in aluminum in some applications. They're plenty strong for the job on an LS head bolt.

The Edelbrock aluminum heads on my mustang came helicoiled in certain places from the factory. I believe where the rockers, exhaust manifolds, and lower intake mounts. I do know the valve cover bolt holes aren't though, but they're 1/4-20 and only torque to like 12ft lb

Are there room to use head studs with the engine in the vehicle on these LS engines?

If I were replacing the head bolts and there was room for install, I'd use studs

 

[j91z28d1]

The heli coil threads are stronger then what you start with.

depends on the material. but overall yes they are about as good in hard stuff like steel and better in soft stuff like aluminum.

 

[Trey Hardy]

The Edelbrock aluminum heads on my mustang came helicoiled in certain places from the factory. I believe where the rockers, exhaust manifolds, and lower intake mounts. I do know the valve cover bolt holes aren't though, but they're 1/4-20 and only torque to like 12ft lb

Are there room to use head studs with the engine in the vehicle on these LS engines?

If I were replacing the head bolts and there was room for install, I'd use studs

I don’t think theirs room for the studs because of the firewall but I could be wrong
And my inlaw was the supervisor to cherry point mcas airbase machining department he also said to use helicoils but I did the time sert because it’s what my tuner recommended to me and he’s done a lot of boosted applications so I figured he maybe had a bad experience with the helicoil maybe? Idk