Best way to rethread valve cover bolt?

[GeneralChaos]

well, when I originally got the car one of the bolts was stripped, it would tighten down to an extent but then just losen back up. at the start it wasnt that big of deal, hardly leaked any oil (could see all the gunk going down the engine from that spot) but now of coarse its getting a lot worse.

Im wondering if theres some kind of cheater way to do this, or side effects up threading it again, probably have to do to a bigger size I assume.

Anything I need to be careful of?


Picture below shows the bolt but this picture is NOT my car.

 

[steve]

You can try using a longer bolt to reach the good threads.
You can also try cleaning out the hole with break cleaner and blowing it dry, then carefully coat the bad threads with JB weld and thread a lightly greased bolt in. You need to make sure you dont fill the hole up or get any in the bottom and "hydrolock" the hole.The grease will help the bolt release when the JB weld cures.
You can tap that hold for a slightly larger bolt.
Last case but perhaps best solution would be to helicoil or some other style of threaded insert

Since the valve cover bolts are only to get at most 3 ft lbs torque (not even hand tight) JB weld should hold.

You should also check the gasket. If it's hard it's not going to seal well. A good gasket seals by conforming to the surfaces and doesn't need more pressure that the stock bolt specs.

Steve

 

[ICGerms]

I've used the Helicoil on a couple of mine with good success. It's a l'il pricey, but it works very well.

 

[igopoopy]

http://www.plymouthlaser.com/heli.htm

 

[oldman]

You can try using a longer bolt to reach the good threads.

Go to a hardware store and look for the same thread size bolt that's 1/4" longer, make sure you don't strip it again as you only get one chance to use this fix. After that you will have to go the Helicoil route.

 

[steve]

According to my notes when I was making valve cover kits, the outer holes on a 1G were 32mm deep. A M6x1.0 bolt 30mm long is about longest that might fit. I'm pretty sure that I measured that with the valve cover in place.

Steve