Well, it finally happened. Blew out a spark plug on my 01' V10 and need to repair the damaged threads. I know this is a common issue on the Tritons, what I cant seem to find is a consensus on what kit to purchase to repair.

You've got Time-Sert, Cal Van, ATD...who knows how many other options. I am looking for the "best" option, with cost not being a factor. Based on my research so far, which hasn't been much, I'm leaning towards the ATD based on videos I have found online.

Need to get the kit ordered and plan to do the repair this coming weekend. Any and all advice appreciated!!

 

Take it with a grain of salt:

I've used both helicoli and time sert for various applications. I like them both. Time sert more expensive and slightly more involved.

For your spark plug, I'd use a time sert system over a helicoil simply because it's a little more robust repair. But take your time and do it right the first try.

Again, I like and use them both. No experience with cal van or atd.

 

My advice from my experience is here.

I will never have a use for this CalVan kit and blower contraption that I made ever again. If anybody is interested in purchasing it, PM me. You would still need to purchase just the inserts from CalVan.

 

Thanks for the advice! That write up is very thorough and much appreciated. I have been going back and forth on which kit to use as the lack of a “set” tool with most makes me feel uneasy.

Am I correct that the Cal-Van kit relies on loctite to stay in place? I assume no issues with any of repairs with the Cal-Van kit??

thanks again!!!

 

So far, so good...but I haven't drove a ton of miles either. I have not heard of any major issues with this kit.

 

Cost being no object: take the heads to a machine shop and have them machine the correct number of threads into the heads

I used the Cal Van kit on my 00 V10. Pain in the neck but works. If you search the Youtubez, I posted a video on how we did it.

 

Might be kind of hard to machine threads where there isn’t metal there to machine, the upgrade to the increased number of threads in ‘03 included adding the extra metal there for those additional threads.

 

Thanks again for the insight! I plan to order the Time-Sert 5553 kit today and hopefully I can have it in hand by the weekend. The fact this kit uses loctite, along with the included "driver" to mechanically lock the insert into the head, I feel this is the most solid installation method. The cost is prohibitive at $600+ but this isn't a repair I want to question every time I take the family on a road trip...

Any other advice is always appreciated!

 

I felt very comfortable with the CalVan kit. After the old hole is reamed to a larger diameter, it yields more threads than before...similar to the 2002+ 2V heads. Torque them down to 25 ft-lbs just like the 2002+ and be happy. Nobody blows out those spark plugs. Even the loctite is overkill to prevent another blowout. I believe its primary purpose is to just ensure that future spark plug removal doesn't accidentally remove the insert as well.

Also, the inserts have a shelf on top that make them impossible to further screw in and fall into the cylinder.

 

The Time-Sert kit arrived on Friday, and I spent what time I had available over the weekend working on it. I got to the point of having the hole tapped for the insert but had to stop due to time and daylight constraints. Some observations from a newbie who has never done this repair below, along with a question on removing the final metal shavings from the cylinder...

The Time-Sert kit is top notch! Quality of the tooling is impressive and instructions are thorough. The laminated instruction page is a nice touch as well. All the tools index well, even without the guide that comes with the CalVan kit. This was something I was a bit concerned about, but it wasn't an issue at all.

I purchased the optional Leak Tester and glad I did. I was able to mostly tell the valves were closed using the borescope, but it was nice piece of mind to verify via air pressure and the tool.

The cheap borescope I purchased off Amazon works better than expected. For $30 I didn't have high hopes but it works great, the dual lense feature is a must to make sure you can see all the metal shavings that you get to stress about trying to remove from the cylinder..

Trying to bore/drill the head before tapping needs to be done with an air ratchet. I tried to do it by hand but downward pressure while slowly turning a ratchet certainly doesn't work well. The ratchet saved a bunch of time and energy. I did tap by hand and that went smoother than I expected as the tap went down the bore easy with no drama.

I purchased a long nozzle blow gun from Harbor Freight and it is long enough to get into the cylinder to blow out chips. I would highly recommend as its cheap and dimensions work well. Small windshield washer tube can also be put onto the nozzle to get into harder to reach spots. More on this below...


So...any tips and tricks to get the final metal shavings out of the cylinder?? I have very few remaining but the ones that are present seem to be stuck to the cylinder wall or are sitting on the top piston ring between the piston and cylinder wall. Best I can come up with is a small tube fed into the cylinder, brake clean down the tube, then compressed air to hopefully allow the tube to "whip" around inside the cylinder and distribute the brake clean and air to as many spots as possible. I'm open to any ideas from those who have done this job...


Thanks to all for the recommendations and advice, hope to finish the job Tuesday evening as I need the truck back for this coming weekend...

 

My tip and tricks are fully outlined in the link, but here is the snippet:
"What I have found works well is to slowly hand turn the engine over AGAIN to open a valve, then put the plug back in, then slowly hand turn it again until the plug pops out. This puts you right back where you started, but the action of the piston moving up and down clears those little buggers and they usually end up stuck to the cylinder wall. Now you can blow them out. I start with a good dry blow and then follow up with as many brake clean assisted blow outs until I don’t see any chips with the borescope."

 

Thanks 4Kids, I actually went back and read your post again and noticed that portion, appreciate you pointing it out!

 

No problem. I also found that putting a small bend at the tip of the air nozzle combined with the ability to rotate the nozzle (I used a loose nipple extension) allows you to blow directly into the full circumference of the bore-piston corner and helps you swirl the flow.

 

Watch your eyes when the shavings come blasting out!!