my broken bolt in the head has turned into a mess, this was one of the bolts that hold down the intake, it broke off flush with the head then i broke off a easyout below the surface. i used a torch and hammer and punch to get most of it out. then i broke the tap in the hole the tip of the tap is still in the hole so i'm thinking the torch again and try to break it in pieces and remove it but this will probably enlarge the hole. so is a heli-coil in this hole to hold down the intake going to work ok? has anybody used heli-coils in a head?

 

IMO it would be fine, if you do it right. How come you keep breaking everything off in the hole. Take it easy and use patience.

 

In my opinion time-serts are a little more reliable than heli-coils. JMO tho!

 

I'll bite what is a Time-serts. Ya tell me i'ts use on all muffler brgs. And I will understand but It will take time to heal.

 

I'd get a set of (good) HARD bits and start small and work your way up, even if you have to go a size bigger with the threads/bolt it should be ok. But yes WTF how did you break the tap in there >? Thats a freeking 3/8 bolt what are you doing over there ? Let me guess that tap set says made in China yep I got one too.. I did manage to thread three valve cover holes with a metric tap but hey "Never said I was perfect" LOL

 

yep must be cheap tools, using someone elses, tap just snapped, no pushing it at all. tomorrow i'll try to fix. started small and went up now hole is allready to bolt size with partial treads if i torch tap will probably size out hole and i think when i torched the easyout it blended with the metal in head and is now tempered tough so tap was working hard on new steel blend i'm trying hard to not have to remove head from block as this will cause me to remove both heads and by head gaskets. will have to replace both heads so they will match, and will have to have the heads on the motor i took out sent to a machine shop and gone through so more money! oh by the way anybody know of a shop in my area to do the work on heads? and how much is normal for getting 2 heads done for a 390?

 

No idea on a local place in your area, I used Don @ Costa Mesa Auto Macine Shop, he might know of someone out your way..try calling him, he's a good guy will help if he can. As for cost he gave me a quote range of 140/400 depending on what was done.. He looked at my heads and suggested I just lap the seats and go I did..honesty is a good thing to have as a business owner.

 

arctic y block
"I'll bite what is a Time-serts. Ya tell me i'ts use on all muffler brgs. And I will understand but It will take time to heal."




If your not sure what Time-Serts are you can go here and read up on them if you would like. But to put it simply it's what is prefered most of the time to repaire the threads when the 5.4L blows a plug thru the hood, but it has other great uses as well.

http://www.timesert.com/

http://www.threadkits.com/timeserts/timeserts.html

 

Thanks Friend. I guess in am a lot older school than thought. Looks to be easier and stronger than HeliCoils. Especially in aluminium.

 

changed heads had old head did a valve job on and put it on just got it running!!!! has some valve noise but is starting to get quieter, motor was sitting for 10 years

 

did you check preload on the lifters ?

 

If heli-coils are so weak, how come Volvo uses them on the aluminum engines and in the Volvo aluminum outdrives on boats?

 

Well Bear as it may be... I worked as a set-up man in the machine shop at Tridair Industries back in the 70's ...and heli-coils are cheap as hell when there even purchase at 1 at a time let alone buy the Hundreds of thousands.. and a Time-sert and a keen-sert are by far superior to a heli-coil..and just a easy to use...and have 10 times the holding power..JMO..

RJ

 

Russ, I've never had a heli-coil fail with proper torques spec. So you are saying if you want to over torque things and warp them this Time-sert and keen-sert are the way to go and they cost more for you to screw up equipment. Stronger is not always better. Not how we did it where I worked.

 

Heli-coils are rated for Mil-spec aircraft and nuclear weapons (don't ask me how I know the latter) so I wouldn't sweat it on their ability to fix the problem. Its your truck, not the Space Shuttle.

Devcon epoxy is also mil-spec rated--nice fact to know, huh?