Oh No, Stripped water pump bolt

[plmac7880]

156 IN LBS my...... alright, while installing a new water pump I stripped the front lower bolt hole. Has anyone used a Helicoil in the pump housing? Not much metal there to work with, any sugestions? Pretty tight place to work too.

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[focusguy87]

Tap Dye kit? will that work?

[plmac7880]

I,ll try that first, and go up to the next size bolt. That would cut less material than a helicoil. Have you ever tried the epoxy thread repair? It sounds like a bandaid, I'll have to read up on it. Thanks

[viney266]

I have used the epoxy thread repair on two-stroke cylinder heads. It works pretty well, MAKE SURE you use enough of the release agent on the bolt threads... It held a spark plug in on a vintage aluminum 2 stroke head.

Try just chasing the threads with the same size tap first, unless you truly wiped out the threads.

[plmac7880]

Sounds good, I'll try to chase the threads. Thanks for the info.

[plmac7880]

Ended up using the epoxy thread repair kit. It worked great.

[stonecold]

I had the same issue. 156 in-lb has to be a typo in the Haynes manual; way too high. Theere is no way the M6 x1 bolt threaded into an aluminum pump housing (4-5 threads) should expect to withstand this much torque.

I used an M6 x 1 Hel-coil kit purchase off the internet. Since I was also replacing the timing chain, all I had left was two bolts to remove the water-pump housing. So, I made the thread-repair on my bench. Drill out the stripped threads with 1/4" drill bit, tap the threads, screw in the heli-coil (the kit tool compresses the coil to make it easier to insert), break off the coil tang, you are good to go. I believe I torqued to about 90 in-lb I believe max for an M6x1 is around 106 in-lbs. I also used Permatex thread locker.

This link covers use of the heli-coil tool, watch the video. http://www.repairengineering.com/helicoil.html