what 69L88 is referring to with making sure the bolt comes out. when aluminum threads gall, they can let the bolt turn and just tear the threads off. do a couple of turns with a combination wrench and make sure bolt is coming up. if not, you may want to grab bolt with vice grips and pull up as you turn. shavings in that bolt hole are very little to worry about. it is cooling system, not oil there.

 

First check to be sure that the stripped out hole does not go to the inside of the motor and is simply a drilled out hole which has a limited depth. Then using a small dowel or a Chopstick and apply sticky wheel bearing grease to the end that you are putting in the hole and then drop it in looking for any remnants of the threads. Most of the time a good shop vacuum can pull the thread remnants out but there are times it makes sense to use the grease on a dowel trick. If using a shop vacuum be sure to use the smallest end suction adapter to concentrate the vacuum into the hole. I have a vacuum hose adapter that pulls through a very small hole less than 1/2" in diameter. It is a lifesaver when working on freshly machined metal fragments covered in oil.

Heli-Coils are not hard to install but following the directions using the "original" Heli-Coil brand is important as like most good tools there are lots of cheaper knock-offs being made and sold. Having worked on VW air cooled engines in my youth we used a lot of the Heli-Coil inserts for spark plugs and case bolts. If they are installed properly they can easily last a lifetime. If the stripped hole has had any grease or oil exposed to the inside of it then be sure to clean the inside of the hole with brake cleaner and let it dry before installing the Heli-Coil.

Using a pair of needle-nose pliers with a long narrow tip is a great way to break off the tang once the Heli-Coil is in place. If it falls in the hole just use the dowel with grease to remove it afterwards.

 

After doing a little more research and thinking about the time and attention to detail I put into the intake install, I'm just not sure that the china wall is leaking. I do know that I have an issue with that bolt starting to strip, but my focus is in the leak. I replaced the distributor to a HEI and I'm starting to think that it is sitting on the oil pump and not seating on the intake. I'm going to check and have some shims ready. Hoping that is the issue, as it should be an easier fix than pulling the intake, again.

Thanks again for all for all of the extremely detailed information from everyone. I love this forum.

Keith

 

A couple quick observations.
What material bolts did you use to bolt on the intake?
Some bolt materials don’t work well in aluminum.
Did you use assembly lube or Locktite?

When you do tap the head, if it’s a blind hole make sure to use a bottoming tap and not a tap for a through hole.
Measure the hole depth and mark the tap so you don’t go in too deep and break the tap.
Taps are extremely brittle.
Make sure you use lots of tapping fluid compatible with aluminum.

If you use a torque wrench to torque the bolts, upon reassembly, make sure you are torquing the bolts to the proper value going through an aluminum intake and into an aluminum head, which will be a different torque value than bolting an iron intake to an iron head.

 

Lars method is about as good as it gets at home on the car. I did one for a friend years ago with intake still installed as pilot but still had to pull intake to get the the tab out. Make sure you get the heli coil tab and all metal shavings/ chips out.

 

Yep. OP, personally if you decide to helicoil the one hole I’d be tempted to just do both heads entirely in the intake area. Aluminum is very soft compared to steel and as Jebby eluded to the helicoils are often times many times stronger that the OE threaded hole.