What would you do? (thread repair vs. tapping)

Rich

Rich

Asshole at large
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Central PA
So I am running a very specific water pump on my LS1 - it's from a 1997 corvette. Reason why is they used a bolt-on pulley that year, which lets me space it out easily to work with my LS-truck accessories.

Well, one of the t-stat housing holes is stripped really good, and it's leaking. I tried ordering a new (not reman) pump, and they all come with a pressed-on pulley, which would work for a 'vette, but not my application.

So... Here's my options as I see it:

1: Drill out the hole (IIRC it's a M6), tap to 5/16". (I have only standard taps, and M8 is bigger than 5/16" anyway)
2: Try and find some way to pull the 'vette pulley out ~3/4" (it's really close to the pump so I odn't know if I can get jaws on it)
3: bacon

Any input?
 
MMMM....Bacon!

What about using a helicoil or a nutsert. That would be the way I would fix it.

Is the t-stat housing on the W/P on that motor??
 
I'd helicoil it as well, re-tapping to a different size would just aggrivate any situation when you needed to pull it apart later.
 
heli-coils site is fawking worthless to find local vendors, I want to make sure they have metric ones in stock.. any ideas on someone local that is consistently in stock?
 
I don't have the number, but try Apex Sales (Carquest) in Apex, he's got a lot of everything in there

most Napa and Carquests should have a section on the shelves
 
would help if you knew the pitch as well, I have an M6x1.25 set here, but it's too for to drive to be worth it.
 
greg slade said:
Fastenall always has a good selection
Click to expand...

True, Fastenall may well have it, but how much do you have to buy at one time ?

Most of their sales are bulk.

Worth a shot though
 
can you weld the hole & drill & re-tap it??
 
NAPA has them all, they may have to order the right size comes in kits with tap about 8 helis, and a driver to install. just tell them the size you want.
 
Thats how Fastenall has them too. individual kits for each size. Helicoils may be expensive but they are nice to have in the toolbox for future uses.
 
Wilders Nuts and Bolts off of Hodges St. in Raleigh should have just about any size of heli-coils
 
Guess I should have mentioned I work in Chapel Hill... ;)

There was a car-quest on the way home..

Greg (Stone), thanks for the offer, but I'm on too tight of a timeline for mail or to try and swing up that way.

Grabbed another gallon of dex-cool and a new thermostat housing on the way home as well (all in my backpack on the bike)
 
WHY THE FAWK are you using DEXCLOG ?
 
Blkvoodoo said:
WHY THE FAWK are you using DEXCLOG ?
Click to expand...
x2 worst product on the market if i bought something brand new the first thing i woul do is drain it and put in green.

It reacts to air the best i can come up with and then turns into what looks like wet rabbit food.
 
X whatever on the helicoil. I fixed three head studs in the cylinder of my old 93 CR250 with them back in the day. Never had a problem. Fixed the swing arm axle adjuster bolts with them on my 97 CR250 with no problems. That was as shitty job, but it saved me from having to buy a $350 swingarm.
 
only reason I used it at the dealership was because I had to for warranty purposes ( is all GM would pay for)

out of warranty, it got the GREEN!!

Many times I would flush a system and if it hadn't crystalized in the slower moving parts of the system, it sludged up and made mud in the radiator. and the stuff STINKS like shit in the event of an overheat.

And rarely was it due to mixing of the green and Dex.
 
Rich,
Remember the run where I busted my transfer case from my transmission? That was the run just before you and I traded tranny's and cases. I had been running a 700R4 case with two helicoils on the holes where the case mounted. It worked great until that rock.... I agree, Napa.
 
Well, it's just prestone, not actually the real stuff, but oh wel, I'm not draining it again for a little while.

ANYWAY, success!!! It torqued up nicely, and is holding strong. Using bolts that go all the way into the threads is good too. GM was about 20mm short. :rolleyes:
 
Bacon and ALUMIWELD! Then drill and tap back to stock


( It works on TV on aluminum cans!)


Matt
 
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