Well I made some progress today. I picked up a harden steel drill guide made by Big Gator Tools to drill the next helicoil straight (last one was off a hair). Also picked up an Irwin tap socket since it was in close quarters and doesn't allow my Greenfield tap handle to work. Also picked up one of the new Quinn digital 1/2” torque wrenches from Harbor Freight. Best part is it measures angles.

For the other 5 untested bolt holes, I decided to test them out. I kept the head on and torqued all 5 to spec, loosening after each torque to prevent warpage. All held.

Took and old POS aluminum throttle body spacer and drilled and tapped a hole to bolt the drill guide to it to make it more stable. Drilled the hole no problem. I then took the throttle body spacer and tapped it with the helicoil tap on the bench. This made a guide to allow the tap to be started straight in the engine. Put it on the engine and it worked like a charm. 

I went ahead and picked up a new gasket and new bolts just to be safe. I didn't see any stretch to them like the factory ones but didn't want to take any chances. 

Moment of truth..........torqued all 10 and they all are holding. Wooooo. Nerve racking part over. Btw peak torque for all bolts was 100-110ft lbs in case anyone was wondering.

Threads that popped out of bolt #5


Helicoil installed


Drill guide mounted to throttle spacer plate



Pre tapped hole to keep alignment.

Last edited on Sun Oct 27th, 2019 10:19 pm by sheltonfilms