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Broken Bolt now a bigger hole

Flathead Red

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I was putting a timimg cover on a 351W along with the water pump. I bought a set of three water pump bolts made by doorman. While trying to figure out which holes the bolts go into, I snapped one off. I got an ez-out from my local hardware store and drilled into it and snapped the ez-out off. After I calmed down, I researched on here about how to remove the ez out and the bolt. I got a couple of the tungsten and diamond dremel bits yesterday to remove them. Now, the hole is larger than original. My thoughts are to clean up the hole and retap with a larger bolt size but that will require resizing the timing cover/water pump. I also thought of a helicoil but have never used one before. Lastly would be to seek out a machine shop to fix it professionally. Any thoughts or opinions?

Red
 
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1967marti

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Sep 22, 2011
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If the block is in the car and you need it fixed ASAP than I would drill for the next size up and tap it... It's a 5/16 course thread right? If the edge of the water pump has enough meat to accept a larger bolt than you can go with a larger hole/bolt, but be careful cuz sometimes you need to crank down on water pump bolts to get the pump to seal and the ear may crack if it has been drilled out.

What I would do if it were on one of my mustangs is drill out the block and put in a threaded sleeve, not a helicoil. They are stronger and look better in the long run. Drill-locktite-hammer (lightly!) in insert and you are as good as new.
 

NUTTSGT

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I've never used a threaded sleeve but for this application (water pump bolts always get crude coverd) it might be the right choice.
 

dawgee

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rhode island
McMaster-Carr has them also. They are fairly cheap and easy to install . I think they are called threaded inserts on the McMaster web site. Like the others stated much better then a helicoil.
 

1980z28tbar

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Nov 1, 2011
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you can clean out hole,if it is a blind hole,you can epoxy a stud in the hole,loctite has a lot of products for this repair,plus there are other suppliers such as JB weld.that will take the heat,good luck.....
 

NUTTSGT

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you can clean out hole,if it is a blind hole,you can epoxy a stud in the hole,loctite has a lot of products for this repair,plus there are other suppliers such as JB weld.that will take the heat,good luck.....

You know, that's not a bad idea. Many years ago, I lost a water pump bolt and used a section of all thread as a temp fix. It stayed on the car all season.
 

srmofo

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I have also seen threaded studs that are different sizes on each end. That allows abigger hole and re taping while keeping the same size on tge water pump end
 
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Flathead Red

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I ordered two different kits and picked up a third. Had to order the Time Sert kit, picked up a Recoil kit from Fastenal and ordered some other stuff from Fastenal website. That stuff isn't cheap! Thanks for all the advice. I will let you know how it turns out.

Red
 

senlow

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you can clean out hole,if it is a blind hole,you can epoxy a stud in the hole,loctite has a lot of products for this repair,plus there are other suppliers such as JB weld.that will take the heat,good luck.....

Anyone that goes this route will need lots of luck. :shocking:

Screw thread inserts (helicoil) are OK, but I prefer Timeserts.
 

Ign

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You are in the perfect situation for a Timesert. These, unlike helicoils, fill the space with full threads and will be stronger than new. Not hard to install.

http://www.timesert.com/html/install.html

Jim :cool:

So I watched two the of the videos.... I still have questions:

1. does the time sert still require a special (aka STI) tap?

2. to maintain some sort of wall thickness between the innner and outer threads of the insert, does it require drilling a larger hole than a helicoil would for the same application?
 

NUTTSGT

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I have also seen threaded studs that are different sizes on each end. That allows abigger hole and re taping while keeping the same size on tge water pump end

FYI, incase you didn't know, a few of those water pump bolts are long and about impossible to find. Dorman has released a set a few years back, other than that, it's all OEM.
 

JimVonBaden

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So I watched two the of the videos.... I still have questions:

1. does the time sert still require a special (aka STI) tap?

2. to maintain some sort of wall thickness between the innner and outer threads of the insert, does it require drilling a larger hole than a helicoil would for the same application?

Nothing special. The Timsert uses one size up hole size from a helicoil, which means slightly larger than the original hole, and uses standard taps.

The big advantage is that it is a solid unit, and as strong or stronger than the original material. For low torque applications I still use the heli-coil, but for higher torque I always use a Timesert.

Jim :cool:
 
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Flathead Red

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Update to my situation. I got the time sert in today and it worked like a champ. Couldn't hacve ask for anything better! Thanks for all the inputs. Now I have to figure out where all the bolts go!

Red
 
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