Well I decided to tackle the headgasket this weekend, I was planning on having it done in a few hours but that didn't happen. The tear down went pretty quick but just as i was getting ready to cleanup the block I got a phone call from one of my good pulling friends, he was on his way home from a pull down in Kansas and his tow rig decided to spit the carrier bearing and driveshaft out on the hiway about 50 miles south of me, so I steal the old mans truck to drag his puller home and stillsmokin took his 86 Chevy K30 Crewcab down to haul his posse back, well anyway I didn't get home til about 12:30am so I decided to call it a night. I got up today and started working on cleaning up the deck surface and whatnot, well I get the head set on and am torquing it and on my last tq sequence I ripped the threads out of 1 bolt hole in the block. It is the hole between the #4 and #5 valve covers.

So my question is is there anyway to drill/tap and Helicoil it with out pulling the head and wasting the new gasket or will the gasket still be usable if I am careful pulling the head back off?

BTW I was on the 120 ft/lb tq sequence and I am using a 3283339 gasket I am also using stock bolts

sorry for the long post

 

I'm not sure they make a heli-coil insert tool or tap long enough to reach down through the head and make it to the bottom of the hole. You may have to pull the head again. As for reusing the gasket, I'm not sure.

 

Head's gotta come off and you need to use a fresh gasket.

Sorry.

 

at least you didnt have a cracked block like me...i thought i blew the head gasket, so i replaced it and got everything back together and when it started it blew coolant and oil out of the over flow bottle

 

What could be the possible result if you just ran with it ??

 

They make a think called a "timecert" it's far better then a helicoil. It's steel and you over size the hole, tap it and put the timecert in there. If you know anyone in a dealership then they have the kit. If not then it's real pricy for the kit. I know you need to get a new gasket but I've ran one before. I'd check the bolts for streach too. Good Luck

 

What exactly is this timecert deal? I work at a KIA dealer and have never heard of such a thing, hows it work?

I always check the bolts for stretch by ringing them by the procedure in the 5.9 service manual. The holes were all clean and all the bolts were oiled on the threads and under the heads.

 

Give me a few mins, I'll pull up the document and Pm it to you.

 

Sounds good.

I did however find a helicoil kit, I was startin to wonder If I was gonna find one. My favorite local small time parts house comes through for me again.

 

Well got it apart and got it helicoiled and the gasket looks usable it didn't delaminate or anything so...

What are you opinions on using copper coat on the gasket?

 

it almost sounds like its time to break out the credit card and get a set of arp's?

 

That is a big job to have to do over again if it doesnt work. How much is a new gasket?

 

106 bucks for a gasket out the door.

ARP's cost to much and i can get em at cost, but I'll be bolting on a new head in the spring with rings, studs, a bunch of port work and some good springs and retiners and locks

Well got it torqued to 125, reused the gasket. just gotta bolt the turbo on and a few other things and should be ready to fire.

 

Should be fine, I reused a gasket that I ran for like 30 miles once.

 

Wow glad you got it re-threaded and put back together.....I snapped a head bolt off on my 440, and just said the heck with it and ran the motor anyway...so far so good.