heli coil for tower?

bruttenberg · Posted: Oct 14, 2003 5:23 am Post subject: heli coil for tower?

Has anyone ever heard of this. Apparently it is a tap and die procedure. I stripped an allen bolt on my tower (aluminum) and Skiers Choice recommends having a heli coil done where the aluminum threads are bored out and fitted with like size stainless steel threads.

Any other suggestions as to how to fix this very loose fitting bolt. It's not the bolt that is deformed but the housing in which the bolt fits. I thought of a bolt and nut but I don' think it would look very good. Thanks for the help.

riverside · Posted: Oct 14, 2003 8:23 am Post subject:

yes a heli coil will do the job..and it only takes a few minuts to repair the old thread.i once changed the sparks plugs on my LT1 when the engine was hot.
stupid mistake because i messed up 1 thread of the head.I replaced it with a heli coil and it is still fine...about 700 hours later.

aussie_stu · Posted: Oct 16, 2003 8:53 pm Post subject:

yeah, we have replaced 2 of our tower threads with them, I think they are better than original, cuase the heli-coils are usually stainless.

tnphins · Newbie Joined: 06 May 2003 Posts: 17 City: Nashville, TN

That is the problem when you mix stainless steel bolts and aluminum threads. It causes a chemical reaction that makes the aluminum soft and over time wears out. A good suggestion is to always use some sort of lubrication eveytime you back the bolts out. The heli-coil will fix your problem, but remember to lubricate !

vette74 · Posted: Oct 17, 2003 7:49 am Post subject:

Just use anit-size (sp) when you put the new stainless steel bolt in the heli-coil. you get it at Autozone, Napa,...ect. I use it to screw sparkplugs into aluminum heads never had any problems with it.