Helicoil kits

[Phil50]

hi all
Like many long suffering Z900 owners the inevitable happened. Upon replacing the cam cover after re shimming the old torque wrench on 5Ft Lb and "WHACK!" off came the bolt in my hand. Well stripped.

Woe is me for now I am in the manure. Well lucky me it was the outside front bolt on pot 4 and accessible.

Now we all know what the garages charge for this sort of work so off to Ebay and there are lots of the helicoil kit most are crap. I found ONE that used stainless steel insert 6 X 1mm made by ARMACOIL Ltd. £18 including 10 inserts. The instructions are shit but a call to them solved the procedural problems. 10 minutes ne insert. Twice as strong.

So when the bastard 8 x 1.25 exhaust stud stripped the head last week after the oil change and the 4 into 1 was going back on I was a bit peeved. anyway same firm ("Quickfast"01305 263444) sold me the 8mm kit for £23 bypassing ebay and it again took 10mins.

It is harrowing drilling into the head but go slow but firm (as aluminuim grabs the drill bit) and you will be ok. Save a ton of money. When I take the engine out next year I will be replaing EVERY single thread with stainless steel inserts.

I hope this post has been of use and if its not then *Deleted*

regards
Phil

[mick znone]

i did my first helicoil this summer Phil, i was in doubt about doing it, but the confidence the guys on this site give out made it possible for me. this thread is of use, well said.

[Mark Stratton]

I might be wrong but I'm sure that I have read somewhere that stainless reacts when in contact with aluminium and should have a coating of grease (ie copperslip etc) between the two metals to prevent excessive corrosion so I normally use the standard zinc plated steel Helicoils.

Still the best thing that you can have in your tool box though!

[02GF74]

this is a good thread <--- geddit?

the aluminium alloy/stainless steel reaction topic comes up on land rove3 sites often but it does require moiture for the reaction to happen. i also seem to recall that the cfopper in copper grease isa bd thing, so something like castrol LM grease is better.

[Mark Stratton]

Just remembered where I had read about this reaction - Inox Fasteners website. This is a quote from their website regarding the use of stainless against aluminium - not sure how true this is but Inox certainly know their stainless so there might be something in it!

"Why is it really that important to use copper anti seize and not something else?
When stainless steel is fastened ‘dry’ into aluminium, galvanic corrosion can occur as the result of two different materials at opposite ends of the ‘metal nobility’ table being interfaced. In practical terms this means that alloy crankcases can oxidise around the fastener area very quickly. Copper based anti seize provides a third metal as the ‘sandwich’ and as copper is placed in the centre of the ‘metal nobility’ table it prevents Galvanic corrosion. Ordinary grease or oil will not work as they do not contain the vital element. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES use aluminium grease of any sort including aerosols - it will probably seriously damage the castings"

[paulmceleney]

do not use a torque wrench when tightening cam cover bolts, they snap off to easy use a spanner ,also copper slip when using stainless steel bolts into alloy

[mick znone]

i was advised to do them up thumb and finger tight, it worked a treat, no leaks.

[tlc]

A very useful topic here.

I`ve used copaslip for many years as when taking things apart again they come out perfectly. I`m sure we`ve all seen the horrible white fur that covers the thread of a steel screw that comes out of a crancase cover ?

It never occurred to me to use it on a helicoil though !

[Mark Stratton]

Always use copperslip on every fastener unless Loctite has to be applied.

It's just a shame that when you buy a bike you normally find that the garage/guy before you obviously didn't have any and thats when the cursing begins usually ending in a game of hit the impact driver as hard as possible!!!

[popsA1]

There’s loads of stuff on the internet about this. These two links give the testicul stuff -

http://corrosion-doctors.org/Definitions/galvanic-series.htm
http://www.mcnallyinstitute.com/Charts/galvanic-series.html

Basically, the higher in the list the more likely it will corrode.

Two metals joined together and immersed in an electrolyte (like a battery) will pass a current and the metal highest in the list will corrode first.

The closer the two are in the list the less corrosion will take place. The further apart in the list the more corrosion will occur.

Stainless steel and aluminium are at opposite ends of the list so don’t get them wet and protect them with grease.