IHADAV8.com - Turbo Buick Tech, and Nonsense
Tech Area => General Buick Tech => Topic started by: kjhansen on February 09 2022, 10:27:49 AM
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The saga continues. For those who don't remember, which is probably everybody, I ordered a new downpipe from RJC because my wastegate was corroded shut. Paid someone to, as it turned out, not put it in. He couldn't get it to fit. But when taking the old downpipe off, he broke some bolts. He used a drill and an easy-out to remove the broken bolt(s) and put in studs on all the holes. One of the holes, however, stripped the threads (top left hole). I don't want to take the car back to him, because he'll probably make it worse. I don't want to take the downpipe back off because it was a pain to get it back on. I don't want to just force a coarse thread bolt in because that's unpredictable--if it goes in crooked I'm screwed. I looked up fixing it with a helicoil, but that looks like I'd have to remove the downpipe and then remove the turbo. Any thoughts?
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Do not take the car back to him!
Getting those bolts out without breaking them requires heat and patience.
Helicoil or thread sert will fix it. I highly recommend pulling it all back apart but you might be able to do it with just the down pipe off.
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I agree. I like Time Serts which cost a bit more and may take a bit longer but they are stronger, imo. Without actually going out and looking the car, I think you can take the dp off and do it on the car.
Every time I do something because I don't want to mess with it, I end up do it over, it seems. And, a second to not taking back to that guy.
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Remove it. Clean up the mating surfaces and order an RJC gasket to seal up a potential leak. I don't want you on here complaining of a high BLM count.
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I've had a helicoil in the top right hole for many years but the past couple years it doesn't tighten down as tight as it should. Those Time Serts that Steve posted look interesting. I'll see about getting a small package of them or I'll take off the big 82? Q housing & put on a like new 70 P I picked up 10+ years ago but was never motivated quite enough to do the porting etc. for the RJC puck.
Good Luck with yours & I hope it all works out for you! :cheers:
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I always used Keensert's because that's what was available. All mentioned will work, but keenserts or time serts are best.
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I just watched the 2nd video for time serts. All I can say is WOW
http://www.timesert.com/html/install.html#1
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I watched one too. Time serts are the way to go, but... I dug through my bolt collection. I found a turbo-to-downpipe bolt that looks like one from my old car. Wrapped some thin wire around it and threaded it in. It went in tight and didn't pop the threads. For now I'll live with it. I'll check it often. I didn't put any threadlocker on it because heat breaks down threadlocker and there's plenty of heat there!
Thanks for all the input. I will probably do (or have somebody do--let them invest in the equipment) the time serts when the bolt comes loose again, which I'm sure it will.