I have 3 striped oil pan holes in the upper oil pan where the lower oil pan screws in.

What's the best way to fix it on the car? Can I use a Timesert? It looks like to use a timesert the upper oil pan needs to be removed and put on a drill press to assure everything is drilled traight.

Should I try tapping the hole for a #7 screw? The hole is a size 6.

Use a self tapping bolt??

I tried a longer bolt and it won't work.

Surely someone has come across this before. Please give me an idea on the easiest way to repair this on the car.

JET

 

Have you tried re-tapping it?

 

No point. The threads came out on the bolts.

JET

 

Hard way: drill it out with a drill press and re tap it.

Easy way: hand drill it and re tap it. Start with a small bit and work you way up.

I would go for option two if I did not have a drill press on hand but that is just me and my trust in my ability to drill er straight

 

Use a Heli-Coil thread repair kit.

 

 

I'd do it

 

I don't know how I can drill straight underneath the car. Anyone else ever install it with a handheld drill?

JET

 

JET[/QUOTE]
Well a old newbe is going to shed a little light on it. Being that it is on the car it would not be to hard to drill it out and retap for larger bolt. No shaving should go the oil pan is it tight up agains the upper oil pan by the other bolts. It be a while since Iv used a heli coil do to buying a tap and die set but IIRC you would have to use one here is something i found by searching.

You will need to lift the car some I would think to get the drill under their!



http://www.roadstarmagazine.com/modu...rticle&sid=233[QUOTE=JETPILOT]How do you install the helicoil..... drilling required?

 

ummm retap it and use a bigger bolt....it will work

 

You think I can retap for a 7mm without drilling?

JET

 

More than likely. Aluminum is pretty damn soft. I would just get a retap kit and go one size up from the factory and just retap it without drilling. Just be careful not to go to far. I made the mistake of getting a tad bit to long of bolts and it cracked the upper pan. So get the correct lenght

 

It looks like a 7mm bolt tap takes a 6mm drill. Being the stripped hole is now 6mm I won't have to drill. I can just tap the existing hole. The problem will be finding a 7mm X 1" bolt.

Thanks for the help! From you too noob!

JET

 

I had a similar problem on an aluminum exhaust manifold on a friends boat. Because the aluminum is easily damaged I recomend drill it out, tap it for the helicoil. Just run the drill at a low speed, you'll be fine, the bit will want to go in straight. Mark the bit with a piece of tape for the depth you want and the same with the tap.

Did this happen while looking for the reason the dip stick was stuck?

 

Damn jet, what are you torquing your oil pan bolts to 50 ft lbs ..

Try mcmaster-carr.com for the 7mm bolts if they have em.. You might have to swap to a standard bolt like a 1/4-20 or 28

If you go with a 7x1 you're going to want to use a 15/64 drill bit before tapping if it had a 6mm bolt in it before it's not 6mm it's 5.2mm so its a little undersized. so use a 6.1mm drill bit (technically to clean it out) and then tap with the 7x1 tap.

 

I didn't strip the threads. When Sharif built my motor he put someone elses oil pan on my motor. I know this becasue my oil pan was drilled for the Turbonetics oil pan return and the one I got back on the motor did not. It seems if you tightened the bolts by hand you could get them to hold a certain amount of tourque before the bolt would slip. I removed and replaced the pan and it sealed perfectly with no oil leaks.

Yesterday someone else removed it and replaced it and I guess the bolts stripped out the remaining thread. The two stripped bolts were the two rear ones next to each other. So the whole rear edge of the pan had no bolts holding any clamping force. So I lost 4 quarts of oil out the back of the pan and may have damaged the motor. The reaining oil will go out for analysis to see if there is any bearing material in there.

Thanks for that info Intense!

JET

 

I pulled the pan off and used a self tapping bolt on my APS, and it still leaks a tad, but i think its the washer.

 

Larry,

check you emails. no one has M7 bolts in town. the shortest ones I could find were 50mm long. that's an inch too long! BUT, I have located an M6 helicoil kit here in Vero - inlcudes the correct tap, helicoils, and the insert tool. It can be done with easily with the car on jack stands.

Andrew

 

Holy crap - best of luck with this latest issue. You can always just cut and file bolts with a rotary tool - takes 2 seconds. Someone needs to put an oil level sensor/alarm in these cars. Can't believe no one has done it yet - wish I had thought of having the bung drilled while my upper pan was off...

 

QuadCam came over tonight and he installed 2 helicoil inserts with me. I was going to use thread cutting bolts, but the local store didn'ty have them.

The heli-coils seem to be holding although one seems to turn alot more than the other but seems to hold some bolt pressure.

We will see if it holds!

JET