Is it possible to "heli coil" a stripped spark plug hole in a Mini head?

Tks,

 

Yes, any good auto parts store will have a sparkplug hole repair kit. K&D makes one.

Dave

 

Thank you.
Trying to help a friend out.

 

Crap! Thats a Nightmare!

 

this sounds...not so fun. good luck!

 

Be sure to use lots of grease on the drill bit and tap to catch any metal bits. It also helps to bring the piston up on the cylinder you're working on and rig a small piece of tubing to a vacuum cleaner nozzle. Stick the tubing into the cylinder through the plug hole to gather any small bits that may get through.

Eric

 

I've never personally had to install a helicoil in a spark plug hole but a old friend once gave me this advice. Observe the cam on target cylinder and rotate the crankshaft until the exhaust port is fully open and the piston is near TDC. Place a blower (shopvac) into the exhaust pipe, this will pressurize the cylinder and blow most (hopefully all) particle out through the spark plug hole. When tapping the hole, go slow backing out frequently to clear (blow) any cut metal particles out through the hole. Finally using a small tubing (as mentioned by ericfreeman) attached to a vac to get any bits that has fallen into the cylinder.

Good Luck

 

Thanks for all the advice.
Will pass it on.

 

How do you get the tube out? All the tools I've found that'll fix my issue are too big to fit down the guide tube the biggest square drive tap I can find is 12mm and all the rest use a 13/16 socket and these tubes barely fit a 5/8 spark plug socket

If you haven't guessed I'm the one with the problem I've never seen a spark plug shoot out a head and not damage the plug itself. I was all excited until the new plug just spun.

 

From what I've read the spark plug sleeves are pressed into the cylinderhead. You can't reuse them once removed. There are two tools, one to remove and one to install. The removal tool slides into the sleeve and expands to grabs/locks the sleeve to the tool. Then a slidehammer is attached to tool to pull it out of the head. The install tool looks like is a two piece tool that presses the "new" sleeve back into the head.

 

There's a couple of really good threads on here that detail just that operation. Two things I recall is 1) the helicoil is not the preferred fix and 2) you stuff a ladies nylon into the cylinder before you start tapping that way the nylon snags all the little metal bits.

....Les

 

I think the proper way to do a heli coil repair is to remove the head.
It's a lot more work but at least you can do the job correctly.
Hate to get chips in cylinder and do even more damage.

 

If the head comes off it's not going back on

 

Why not?

Dave

 

Couple reasons:

'02 with 105k
Planned on a thumper head in 6mo
I'm OCD

Only prob is my core is messed up. So, I could buy thumper's head 6mo early and royally hose my finance scheduling (see OCD) but since my core is messed up it's another $500 so it's pretty well off my list right now.

I'd rather not do a head twice but I really wanna run his head. Looks like if I can't fix it I'ma swap with a JCW head then later on when I get the thumper sell the JCW to a bud.

Ionno just super shitty timing. I've got 2 cars and both are down right now mini was unexpected so the merc is like 2weeks away from being back together :(. Looks like I'm rockin a dub for a bit

 

Call and ask if a stripped spark plug will ruin the head.

 

Here is another thread about stripped spark plug holes.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...nder-head.html

At the end of the thread is a step by step, with the problems encountered.

Dave

 

Thumper already said of I have to use a helicoil, spark plug repair kit, ect it's not usable. When I get it off I'm going to see if I can clean em up. If I can great I'll use it for me core otherwise y'all will see misc **** FS on the market

I've already bought Volgas' JCW head and I've got a bud hunting down all the gaskets and "while I'm in there" **** I need. He's scored some good pricing for me before, he works by mini Orlando, and he delivers for bacon so I should be good there.

I'll still end up with a thumper head just not as soon as I expected. My coworker has an 03 and a JCW fetish so; when I'm ready he's buying the JCW, I'm using his head as a core, and I'll buy the thumper...everyone wins

My only real concern at this point is if there's a diff between 02 and 06 that would prevent me from using the JCW head. From what I've read there shouldn't be an issue since most if not all the differences are in other engine parts. Plus I'm trying to think of other stuff I should replace "while I'm in there" like timing chain ect

Seems like this is a common problem to start with but even moreso with brisk plugs (what I'm running). Think there should be a warning for brisk plugs or is it just a coincidence?

 

In regards to the time sert, does anyone know which one specifically do I need to get? Unfortunately I have the same issue with the head that many others here seem to have as well. I emailed time sert, but I wanted another opinion from those who have purchased them as well.

 

Pulled head and cyl 1 had already been "fixed". Timsert was starting to back out into the combustion chamber. Exhaust lobes on the cam were pretty nasty too

It's all back together but I'm having another problem. Feels like a boost leak or maybe a vac leak in the fuel system. Check filler cap light comes on every once in a while and when I peak boost it drops off and sputters