Stripped tread on injector retaining bolt

[proser]

Had blow by on number 1 injector

Cleaned everything up with Oven cleaner, to get rid of the carbon deposits. injector came out fairly easy.

Cleaned the bore and mating face with wet&dry glued to the end of a clutch alignment tool - worked very well

Cleaned injector and mating face by reversing the application of the clutch tool as it's got a hole in the middle

Put everything back together and went to tighten up the bolt and the thread stripped


Does anybody know if I can rethread the hole with a standard thread repair kit ???

 

[Dieselman]

Yes you can but be very careful to not drill too deep as the waterways are below the holes.
Fit a drill stop onto the bit to ensure you can't drill too far.

You only need to enlarge the hole 0.5mm for a helicoil.

 

[proser]

Thanks Dieselman,

I'll be picking up an M6 kit - tap, drill, inserts, insert tool - in the morning, got work tonight . Will have to use the wife's car but she won't know untill she gets home from work

I'll be using a small cordless drill as i'll have more control over that part of the job.

It's just going to take a bit of delicate work in getting the thread cut for the insert, as there isn't much room and also the original thread a quite a way down in the hole. But I have worked out that it should be doable with a little care.

I've got M8 & M10 kits that I have used before on other cars, but they were all for redoing threads that were at the surface.

Will update once fixed.

 

[proser]

With the thread repair kit in hand............................

Due to the lack of space around where the front retaining bolt is I ended up clearing out the old thread manually - using the drill bit in the small hand tap handle I have. This I found was more controllable as the drill bit was ultra sharp. Coated the bit in grease to collect all the metal bits.

Now that the hole had been cleaned out, it was time to work out how to tap a new thread.

The tap in the kit was just long enough to cut a new thread but didn't have any room to turn the tap whilst applying downward pressure. Managed to improvise with tools that I have to hand.

After 1.5hrs it was all back together and stringer than ever.

I would like to point out that this isn't for someone with basics tools. If it wasn't for some of the oddball tools that I have then I would not have been able to do the job.
If anybody would like any advice on this then I am only too willing to provide from my experience.

 

[Dieselman]

Good to hear it's done and working for little cost.
Would a tap extension bit not have worked Ok.?

 

[proser]

Would a tap extension bit not have worked Ok.?

Only if it wasn't more than 8mm in diameter, as that is basically what the hole diameter is.

But then again the cost of an the exetension is not cheap, and putting into an indi would probably work out the best, guaranteee work and no hassle from your part. But then I am one that says "I can do this" may take a little longer but then I have most tools that a workshop would have ; especially for the front ARB - parts cost less than £30 and an hours time and no more knocking :bannana: