[Guest]

I pulled my oil pan, well dropped it as far as it would go because I forgot to lube up that little strip that lines against the bottom of the timing chain cover, it leaked oil. Fixed that and I started putting things back together the larger bolts that go on the ends of the oil pan, the one on the front driver side got stripped somehow and wont go back in. I dont mess with tap and dye or re-thread kits, I think thread holes is tedious work and im bad at it! Should I roll it into a shop and have them tap it up a larger thread? They wouldnt have to pull the engine would they?

 

[MikeN]

I thought I had stripped one of the holes that mounts the fuel pump plate to my block, but it turned out I had ruined the threads on the bolt, not the block. I cleaned out the hole with a thread chaser and used a new bolt, and everything went fine. You might try that, it's worth a shot.

 

[phel69]

Phil , what about the last problem, the leaky head bolts.Did you get that fixed? As far as the pan gasket, make sure that you have one that is the right thickness for your block and oil pan. I believe small blocks have 2 different sizes. I don't think that you want to "lube" that gasket. If anything you just give it a very light coating of something like black ultra seal silicone sealer. Make sure that you put a little dab on the ends of the rubber gasket where it meets the cork pan rail gaskets. You want your rubber gasket clean and dry except for the rtv sealer, no oil on it. The only thing that you lube during assembly is the seal for the crank snout in the timing chain cover.
I hope that your luck starts to improve, your list of troubles never ends.I agree with what Mike Newby said, try a new bolt and chase the threads in the block.

 

[Guest]

Yeah the head bolts I pulled out 1 at a time and put high heat sealant on them, it seems to have done the trick. Yeah something always new with me, it's always something falling off

I'd assume just pull the pan and put on a new one and new gaskets but I believe the engine comes out for that? I'll try to clean up the thread and use a different bolt one more time, if not kragen has a pretty easy to use tap and re-thread kit, maybe just take the hole up one size.

 

[stephenmarshall]

Just use a heli-coil kit

I am a heavy equipment mechanic and use heli-coils all the time in engines, trannys and on load bearing parts that bolt to the frame structure.

The threads are very strong and they maintain the same diameter bolt.

We also use heli-coils on our 10' x 10" x 1" road plates. We put a 1" heli-coil in the center so we can pick and move them easier (just to show you the strenth of a heli-coil)

If you move up to the next size bolt than you will have to drill your pan and enlarge the gasket hole.

 

[Gene McGill]

Maybe there are a sufficient number of threads left in the hole to where you can do a stud/nut setup, or something similar with a longer bolt/nut set-up ( run the nut up the bolt, install the bolt as deep as you can, then run the nut back down the bolt as you would if it were a stud)