emwporsche

the allen head bolt that secures the downpipe to the engine has stripped threading inside the engine (assclown mechanics)
the bolt is fine it just wont screw in

what do I do?

buy a new 3" downpipe ($$$$)
heli-coil? (might hold, might not)
make it bigger threading and use a bigger bolt? (pain in the ***)
leave it off and maybe shim it?

I'm more worried about vibration niose than anything

thanks

Tom M'Guinn

I'd helicoil it.

However, I've been running 5 years without that bolt -- it wouldn't fit with Huntley's turbo. No vibrations no cracks, etc.

TRWright

On my car it was not an allen key. (12 or 13mm head IIRC) I haven't used it for the last 6k miles, no problems or vibrations at all. I am about to put my turbo back in with the SFR 3" downpipe, and I am pretty sure that the SFR downpipe does not even have the place for the bolt.

emwporsche

yeah I found that the 3" down pipes don't even have that flange,
and I don't think it needs it

I just didn't want it vibrating, but it sounds like it won't!

I don't think I'm going to bother with it

z3bra

It's one of those things that doesn't hurt to have it there, but it's not likely to cause any major problems if it's not there either. Might as well try to helicoil it if you can though, and for what it's worth, compared to the original threads tapped in an aluminum casting, the helicoil will be stronger with regard to pullout if it's installed correctly. This is true of any helicoil type thread repair in any aluminum casting, since you have greater surface area for the outside of the helicoil and the casting interface than you did with the original bolt threads/tapped hole.

There's no chain yanking involved here I promise, one of the thread insert companies has pdfs on their website showing all the ratings for a thread insert to pull out versus the original threads and they're all stronger in aluminum castings than the original threads were. I can't remember which one it was offhand, but I'm pretty sure it was either Helicoil or Re-coil. I'm being lazy though and don't want to go dig it up right now.

Crazy Eddie

BTW if you do helicoil, some have put a stud in the place of the allen or hex head bolt
It supposedly makes the install pretty easy vs the PITA to get that bolt lined up
Do a search and you will see some discussion on it
regards
Ed

z3bra

I don't know there, I was doing some test fitting of my turbo/downpipe for some heat shields I'm fabricating and I was thinking about using a stud there but when I was doing the test fitting it seemed like a stud might be more of a problem than helpful as far as getting things lined up. I guess I can just try using one of my old exhaust studs though since I threw in some of the Saturn ones instead. I'll try that in a few when I get out in the garage and give a report on it later on today.

Crazy Eddie

Hey Brian
Hope all is well
When you installed the saturn studs did you have to buy a 16.00 set of torx sockets ?
I've had them for over 6 months and will be installing this week ...
Please let me know about the stud.
My car was running( unknown to me) for 13 yrs without that bolt...
regards
Ed

z3bra

The torx socket you need is an E7 which is the same size as a T35 although they don't actually make a T35, it goes from T30 to T40. An E6 fits a T30 and an E8 fits a T40 so you see where I got that from. If there's a Harbor Freight nearby, they have a set of 1/4" drive E6, E7, E8 and 3 or 4 that are even larger for $5.99 or so.

I tried to find it on their webste but I can't seem to find it. I just took one over with me and matched it up but I know for a fact it's the E7 size that you need (which is apparently somewhat of an oddball size). I know I saw a set at an Autozone after I picked mine up at HF that were a little bit more expensive but only about $10. I don't know if those had the E7 size in them as I didn't really look at them very closely. Don't spend the money on the SK box end set of External torx wrenches, they skip E7 and just have E6 and E8 in the set. On the same note, there's a set of gearwrenches they have at Sears for external torx but they also skip the E7. (Too bad really, I would have bought the set if they did).

My car didn't have the bolt either and I ended up doing some other stuff on it today instead. I got tired of farting around building heat shields and just bought a roll of header wrap, good times I tell ya and yes I'm cutting off the existing outer shields. Yes I'm also wearing a respirator and all that crap just in case it is asbestos, even if it's not it's still probably something like silica and silicosis isn't any more fun than asbestos induced lung cancer. I'm going to try wetting it too to minimize dust when I get back outside after lunch. I tell ya what, my $17 Harbor Freight 4 1/2" angle grinder has quickly paid for itself for stuff like this.

Cheap or not, I honestly like it more than the DeWalt my friend paid about $80 for just for the fact that it doesn't have the "deadman" type switch so I don't have to keep it held down just to keep the thing on. Gimme an old fashioned on/off slider any day. With the slider switch, I can stick it in the bench vice easily if needed which has actually made stuff easier more than a few times. Probably not very safe but they're my fingers and I'll cut em off if I damn well please. Seriously though, as cheap as that thing is it's built well and even if it breaks, for 17 bucks, I'll just get a new one. I love the fact that their stupid performance warranty was about 10 bucks for a couple years, hell as long as the thing lasts two years it's not worth buying the warranty thing. Oh and I'm kinda happy, apparently they're opening another Harbor Freight about a mile from the house, the next closest one was about 12 miles away and if it was after 3pm, traffic made getting there a big suckfest.

Anyway back to the matter at hand, you can also use a 5mm 6 or 12 point hex wrench on the torx external and it seems to hold pretty well. I got the mini set of combo wrenches at Sears for about 15 bucks but that's from 4 mm to 11 or 12 mm I believe for a 10 piece set. Probably a better way to spend 15 bucks than on the torx only set. The only problem I've run into with the HF sockets is that clearance is a bit goofy on a couple of spots if the header flanges are touching the head so you have to move the flanges back away from the head while you tighten the torx studs in place. With the header wrap vs. the factory outer sheath, it shouldn't be as much of an issue.

If for no other reason, the torx end studs are nice just for the fact that you can pull and install the headers with the head on and the engine in it's normal location without jacking up one side of the engine or anything like that. I just pulled my headers off literally this morning to wrap them and it took maybe 15 minutes tops. Including all the studs etc.

I also used copper anti-seize on the studs so they don't get welded into the head and drilled through the torx star for safety wire to keep them from backing out on their own.

While I've got them out again, I'm going to triple drill them (i.e. one through each "valley" between the lobes on the torx star end which is just a hole through the diameter of the stud every 60 degrees) for the safety wire as lining the wire up to install it was a bit of a PITA with only a single drilled hole. Time to eat a #50 drill bit or two I guess. (Actually they drill really easily so whatever they are they're definitely not 12.9's. Probably 8.8's I'd guess).

Hope that helps ya out, lemme know if you have any more questions on the Saturn studs or the socket for them.

Incidentally, I was looking at my Friend's Toyota 2JZ engine he's putting in his MK III Supra, they have some torx ended studs for the throttle body to intake manifold that look like they're M8 x 1.25 thread and possibly an E8 end rather than the E7 on the Saturn studs. Not sure if they're long enough to work though but I'll check into it. His 2JZ engine is a JDM version one I elieve as it has traction control and some wierd hydraulic pump on it for some feature like hydraulic powered cooling fans or something that the US Spec ones don't have. They've also got M10 x 1.5 studs for the exhaust with Torx ends but that's not very useful to me.

z3bra

Here's what would be nice, but $30 is a bit steep for one damn double box end wrench.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....re&dir=catalog

That thing better do my laundry or cook dinner or something for that price.

z3bra

Alright, I found it, the item number at Harbor Freight for their external Torx socket set is 36562 so you can call a store and see if they have it in stock. I'm guessing they should have em unless they're just out right now.

BTW, the selection is much better at www.harborfreightusa.com compared to www.harborfreight.com but the usa one doesn't have prices and the other does. Strange eh?

Crazy Eddie

Thanks Brian
For looking that up ... I have been a bit behind on things. My son just started school and its getting into
the routine that's a bit tough for him ( and me :-) )
I will call them, HFT and see if I can order it on line .. I just ordered a $hitload of stuff from them ...
Best regards and thanks again
Ed