stripped the hole for the valve cover bolt...

[SL2nitsua]

anyone know how to fix this dirt cheap? need it fixed today but being that its sunday, every auto store in town is closed.

[OldNuc]

A 6mm X 1.0mm helicoil kit. You will not need to drill the stripped hole, just tap it out and insert helicoil. Be sure to get the chips out several times while tapping it out. You Tube has videos. Do not drill it out or it will fail! Auto parts store has them. I have no suggestion for them all being closed though.

[SL2nitsua]

my friend had a brand new helicoil kit laying around and i went and bought a tap and die set just in case. he went to state in FFA comps for tap and die so i asked him to do it for me haha i havent done tap and die since my freshmen year so its been a bit. he is on his way now and we will see what we can do! thanks OldNuc!

[OldNuc]

Use the special size Helicoil tap and do not drill it out or it will be oversized. Make a mistake and you will have potentially trashed the head, or generated a trip to a real good machine shop with the head.

Just an 'Oh, by the way'. Those cover bolts are all shoulder bolts and they will only compress the gasket so far and when they quit turning then quit tightening or they break or strip out. You can install them with a nut driver and you will be a bout 1 turn from contact tight. torque wrench recommended. They pull tight at under 80in-lb.

[SL2nitsua]

got it all done! just need to wait for the gasket maker to dry and i will test it out! Thanks for the advice! that helicoil kit made short work of it and worked perfectly! i got it to where it started getting tight and did maybe 1/8th of a turn then didnt touch it after. i will get a torque wrench on it after the gasket dries some. what is torque specs for these?

[OldNuc]

Book is 89in-lb and I use 80-84in-lb as I don't like breaking them off. It is very difficult to find a 1/4" drive torque wrench that is affordable and accurate in that range.

[TomM96]

i think the key is use nutdriver , not wrench ... go easy

the 1/4 torque wrenches expensive

[OldNuc]

The nut driver will get you about 75in-lb which in most cases is enough. It is near impossible to get them to pull down and make contact with the head with a nut driver though and they should be down in contact.