thal

Hi All-

I've found that the threaded holes on the top of the oil pan of '84; the ones that the oil feed tube mounts to, have been stripped. This likely occured when the the PO was tyring to stem the oil leak he had.

What are your thoughts on the best way to repair? Just drill out and tap to a larger size?

Thanks, Keith

Mrmerlin

I would go with a heli coil repair.
This is the smallest r size you can use .Otherwise you run the risk of damage to the casting on the inside of the pan. There wont be enough metal to instert a timecert.
IIRC the bolt is a 6 mm 1.25
Make sure to use a new gasket prior to installing the tube.
Dont drill all the way through the pan if you can help it

thal

Appreciate the tips. Yeah, i've got the gasket. The PO tried to fix his leak with red permatex and that's where I think the overtightening and stripping took place.

Garth S

You can sometimes tap to 7mmx1.0, and use less "meat" of the casting that going the helicoil route .... 7mm is fairly common on VW applications, so not too tough to source a bolt.

thal

truth be told it's not a demanding application, so your suggestion is worth considering. thanks Garth.

Charley B

when is a helicoil better than a timecert?

GregBBRD

Never. I have both and have used both.

They use the same size drill and tap.

GregBBRD

This is very common. You will see almost every kind of fastener stuffed in these holes. Some people re-thread for 1/4 x 20 and just use an American bolt....yuck. I always timesert these back to 6 x 1mm. If they get worse than that, you can insert to 8mm and them use a 8mm x 6mm step stud to repair (or drill the oil feed tube to 8mm.)

Have Fun

blown 87

I never caught that.
Like you, I have both, but I can not remember the last time I used a helicoil.

Mrmerlin

thanks for the info Greg, I thought the timcerts had a slightly bigger OD than a helicoil . If they are the same then sure go with a timecert

GregBBRD

The Timesert people make a product called "Bigsert". These are bigger, to fix the really big problems and are used in areas where there is big load. These are actually used in the 928 blocks...on the two upper bell housing bolts.

Timeserts are generally one size bigger. (8mm hole drilled and tapped for a 6mm insert.)

Bigserts are 2 sizes bigger. (10mm hole drilled and tapped for a 6mm insert.)

This is probably what you have seen.

GlenL

The casting is pretty thin. I'd tap it and use a bigger bolt. Even an SAE. Heathen! Blasphemer! A 1/4" will be smaller than a 7mm and may fit through the holes without mods.

thal

thanks all! I've been looking for both helicoils and timecerts with poor results. do most auto parts stores carry them?

thanks, Keith

jon928se

That's interesting . With the "Recoil" kit I have been using (Looks identical to Helicoil) to rethread an M6 hole, the original hole is only drilled out to 6.3mm before retapping. The tap used is about 7.3mm dia. O/A

So Helicoil/Recoil may be more appropriate when the original casting to be rethreaded is thin.

PanamaImport

Had same issue (small oil leak from stripped bolts i oil tube on top of oil pan) and ordered a helicoil kit to then realize there is no access to do such a repair without removing the oil pan. Doh! Needless to say, the correct repair will have to wait until the oil pan is out for another more important reason.

In the meantime, I have seen folks use copper wire to help the threads fill the space and tighten. It worked on one of the two bolts. For the other one I ended up dropping a smaller helicoil (5mm) into the hole (not drilled), which had the same effect. The bolt went in there very tight. Note that i removed the tab on the helicoil. Also used hondabond on the gasket. Working great for now. Fingers crossed.