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I was installing headers this weekend and found that when i was bolting them on, the threads in the heads were filled with lots of crud to the point where the new bolts were difficult to turn. I went to the local parts store 5 minutes down the road to buy a bottoming tap to chase the threads. They didn't have one, but it so happened a customer overheard me and taught me this little trick. You may already know this one, but I sure didn't. I've learned so much from this forum I wanted to share this one with you.
Take a hard bolt, grade 8, or in my case I used a 10.9 class, they are about the same as I was told. Get your dremel with a cutting wheel and run 3 grooves along the threads. Deburr the threads so they are clean and then run this in and out a couple of times using lots of lube. I have been using liquid wrench for cutting fluid for years, but wd 40 would probably work too.
Here is a picture, its hard to see but the groove is a little deeper than the threads
Similar to a trick many of us here use to clean the deep threads in the block when we do heads cam. You take a used head bolt, create two flats on opposite sides of the bolt and use it to clean the gunk out of the heads that runs in with the coolant when you pull the heads. Good trick to know.
Great idea, especially in a pinch. I used to build/rebuild Gen 1 small blocks (most recently for my T-Bucket) and finally broke down and bought a set of thread chasers. One has to be careful using a tap or die to chase threads as these will cut/remove metal - the thread chaser used correctly won't do this. Especially important in the softer metals.
Cool Trick to Chase Threads
