Bit of a pickle...

[Dragon@Heart]

Well, about 2 weeks ago, I undertook the biggest project so far on my car, and replaced my intake manifold gaskets, took me 16 hours roughly thanks to the breaks I had to take. Well, when nearly done putting things back together, a friend of mine who helped remove my push rods to get the intake gasket off over tightened my number one cylinder's exhaust rocker bolt, and like a dumby, being as tired as we were, it looked fine so we just moved on after getting it back in place.... Well.... not a full week later, said bolt popped lose on me while on the interstate, it has stripped the threads out of the head, any ideas on the fix? A friend of mine is talking about helping me install a solid helicoil I think it was, but I have no idea what size tap will be needed to install one, anyone have any ideas? The good news from all this, no more coolant leak from the gaskets, and thankfully that never got bad enough to get in the oil. I have learned one thing though, I will never work on a car again when I am exhausted, going with out a car now for a week sucks...

[unchained01]

Depending on the stud size. 8 or 10 mm and the tap comes with the kit

[pocket-rocket]

You aren't the only one to go through this:

http://60degreev6.com/forum/showthread.php/47965-3-Misfire-after-LIM-Change/page2

[Dragon@Heart]

Well, forgive me for not looking better, its been a long couple weeks with little sleep, and being upset with myself that I could be so careless to break something. I looked for a couple hours and couldn't find what I was looking for, guess I was too tired when I looked to pay attention.

[pocket-rocket]

Frustration can blind you at times, believe me, I know, lol. I remember when he was going through that whole thing, otherwise I wouldn't have known about that thread if I didn't take part in it. Hopefully the fix goes straight forward for you.

[Dragon@Heart]

I will find out Saturday, a good friend of mine got the kit needed for cheap, he is bringing it tomorrow (Friday) and I will work on the car Saturday.

[3400-95-Modified]

All this rocker thread destruction makes me think about helicoiling my heads just for a piece of mind, but I guess if you don't over tighten them when going in they probably wont strip out like this.

[Dragon@Heart]

Well, as long as the threads have not been screwed up by being over tightened, things should be fine, I was about to start helicoiling my rocker perch today, but the rain started, so I am screwed, seems I will have to wait another week or so to get my car back on the road.... I know it is just a car, but this is killing me, driving is my one form of enjoyment away from everyone.

[Dragon@Heart]

The rain has let up just long enough for me to drill out the hole, now I have to wait for a friend tonight to loan me a tool so I can tap the threads and install the helicoil.

[bob442]

I would do all the rocker studs, as this problem seems to happen often to some people, and after fixing one thread with a heli coil, another one decided to give them the FU. IMO if you dont want to have to do it again down the line, or have a issue on a road trip. Think of it like this, if one was over tightened, say due to a shitty or not properly setup tourqe wrench, one about the other rockers that were fastened with the same tool?

[Dragon@Heart]

Well, I installed the wrong helicoil, seems the 2003 model year they changed the rocker arms, which means i now have a helicoil installed for the 2002 model year, which seems to have had a bigger bolt.

[Dragon@Heart]

Wow, in the #3 Misfire after LIM Change thread, the rocker arms look just like mine, and his uses the 10 1.5 helicoil, yet mine must be a smaller size because there bolt does not work, so now I have no clue what to do and I am too stressed out to think at this point. Really needed to get my car running soon so I can start making plans for school and a job, now it seems I must have ruined my head or something and can not afford to remove the heads, let alone replace them. Really need some help.....

[bszopi]

Lemme check, but I think I have 10mm rockers in the garage. I'd let one go for now to get you back on the road. Let me know if you want it, and we can arrange sometime for you to get it, since I'm just right up the road from you.

Brad via Tapatalk

[Dragon@Heart]

That would be awesome, how long would you be able to part with it? And I am not sure when I would be able to get it if you have one, things are really messed up right now. Living on SSD and trying to find a job and go back to school, and a dead car, its been hard to get things going. Also, will the rocker be the right ratio for my car and all that?

[bszopi]

I don't need it back, you can keep it forever. The ratio for the 3x00s has never changed, so that is all good as well. And I just checked, and I have a handful of 10mm ones, so you are free to have one.

Brad via Tapatalk