Getting some helicoils done

[xwhatsit]

@Ixion, aye, I thought the steel would be bloody hard if it's a tap. Cutting a cutting thing shouldn't be easy . Yeah, there's not too much to be taken off, and it's only so it'll fit down the hole, so it doesn't need to be very exact. I keep reading about this ISO standard for taps; apparently the shank size is stipulated somewhere, and for a tap which looks about M8 (for a M6 coil), the shank will mostly be bigger.

@MAXIMUSDEMERITUS, yep, the kit is actually a brand called `Recoil'. I read up on their website, and they said they have custom tap sizes. Will look up that name, Linbide tools. Thanks for that. Yeah! Should call boostin up! Completely forgot. Will call as soon as I have some spare time (sure as hell not tomorrow).

Thanks all!

[xwhatsit]

Woohoo! Tried a whole bunch of places, some people sounded a bit scared about tooling a tool (`why not just get a longer tap?'), then somebody said `we don't normally do stuff like that, but try Alpha Engineering -- that's where we send our jobs'. Tried them, got a hands-on guy straight away, told me that he could do it, he'd hold it in the lathe while he ground it down. I asked him to forgive me because I'm a university student, so I need to know the price first so I know I can actually pay him once the job is done, and he ummed and ahhed in an ominous manner until he said `well it's a fiddly job, so probably around about $35 I'm afraid'. Woot!

So tomorrow I'm off to bloody Manukau City (no offence to those that live there, but I hate riding around that place! Traffic lights and 3-4 lane roads and trucks for Africa!).

Yay for hands-on people. Wish I were one.

[imdying]

You could buy a bench grinder for that price, it'd make short work of the shank

[Warr]

Woohoo! Tried a whole bunch of places, some people sounded a bit scared about tooling a tool (`why not just get a longer tap?'), then somebody said `we don't normally do stuff like that, but try Alpha Engineering -- that's where we send our jobs'. Tried them, got a hands-on guy straight away, told me that he could do it, he'd hold it in the lathe while he ground it down. I asked him to forgive me because I'm a university student, so I need to know the price first so I know I can actually pay him once the job is done, and he ummed and ahhed in an ominous manner until he said `well it's a fiddly job, so probably around about $35 I'm afraid'. Woot!

So tomorrow I'm off to bloody Manukau City (no offence to those that live there, but I hate riding around that place! Traffic lights and 3-4 lane roads and trucks for Africa!).

Yay for hands-on people. Wish I were one.

Sounds good.. Could be a good idea to add the Phone number for Alpha and the name of the guy for anyone else wanting fiddly jobs of an enginnering nature done

[xwhatsit]

You could buy a bench grinder for that price, it'd make short work of the shank

Hahah, but I couldn't trust myself not to cock it up. They're that cheap?! Next tool I'm buying though is a torque wrench, so I don't have to keep borrowing my Uncle's (after seeing the amount of stripped threads on this bike, I've turned into a torque wrench Nazi; I'll use it on any thing I can).

@Warr: He's in the Yellow Pages; will post up here his details depending on if it's a good job or not tomorrow, lol.

[xwhatsit]

Well I got it back. Beautiful job; don't know what he did (he tried explaining something to me, but they were all such long words I forgot). You can't tell that it wasn't just made like that. Cost me $30 all up. Now all that remains is for me to do the coils, I suppose. Not looking forward to that. Might have to wait until after the girlfriend's 20th on Sunday, as I have to drop the motor out of the frame.

I highly recommend these guys on the basis of that job. Friendly staff, very precise job (I didn't need anywhere near that amount of precision), and a very cheap price.

Alpha Engineering, 5 Mana Place (off Wiri Station Rd), Manukau.
(09) 262 3013 mail@alphaengineering.co.nz

[Madness]

Good stuff!

Now remember, there is always time for lubricant... on the Tap of course.

I know a guy that used to work on Trawlers, he told me once he had to torque down some engine bolts on a Korean boat. Apparently he was unsure how much to tighten them nd when he asked the crew he was shown 5 fingers. Hmmm, 5. I wonder if that's 500ft/lb, seems a lot. it turns out that the specification was in fact a long bar, with 5 fishermen jumping up & down on the end!!

[xwhatsit]

Good stuff!

Now remember, there is always time for lubricant... on the Tap of course.

I know a guy that used to work on Trawlers, he told me once he had to torque down some engine bolts on a Korean boat. Apparently he was unsure how much to tighten them nd when he asked the crew he was shown 5 fingers. Hmmm, 5. I wonder if that's 500ft/lb, seems a lot. it turns out that the specification was in fact a long bar, with 5 fishermen jumping up & down on the end!!

Cheers, I'll remember to lube it up, but with the amount of oil springing out from that bolt, who would've thought I'd ever need more lube?

Hahaha, they must be the bastards that put my engine back together before I bought it!

[xwhatsit]

Well I dropped the engine out the frame (man that's hard to do by yourself -- ended up laying the bike on its side), pulled off the valve cover, grew some balls and helicoiled those last two holes all by myself. I practised a few times on the old cracked head I've got until I got more confident. Man those are deep holes! It took me ages to get the tap all the way down, as instead of using an electric drill I used a 7mm spanner (camshaft sprocket in the way).

Used some blue Loctite stuff. Seems much better than that other flaky black stuff.

As I was pulling it apart, one of the other bolts that had been coiled earlier didn't want to come out. When I lifted off the valve cover, I saw why -- the coil had come out with the bolt. No matter, I thought, I'll just screw the coil back in (I reused that one, as I had only two coils left for two holes to do). Anyway, I just about cried when I put the thing back together; the bolt just kept turning Well I'm hoping this time that because it's in a different place, oil will not want to come shooting out of it. I liberally smeared the blue shit all over the top of the bolt as well. If this doesn't make it oil-tight I am going to bawl. It'd better stop smoking, as tomorrow is the last day my WOF is valid, so I have to get that done.

Leaving it overnight for the silicone to cure now. Will drain the oil out tomorrow to get rid of the inevitable swarf (I don't totally believe the vacuum cleaner got everything) in the sump, then put in some new stuff for a very short time like I did when I rebuilt the engine.

[Madness]

Will drain the oil out tomorrow to get rid of the inevitable swarf (I don't totally believe the vacuum cleaner got everything) in the sump, then put in some new stuff for a very short time like I did when I rebuilt the engine.

Excellent, I was worried you'd overlook the swarf issue. be sure to change the oil filter when you replace the "flushing" oil.

Ten points.

[xwhatsit]

Excellent, I was worried you'd overlook the swarf issue. be sure to change the oil filter when you replace the "flushing" oil.

Ten points.

Oil filter? What oil filter

No such thing on this engine from Honda's engineering brilliance...

Yep, thanks to KB, I'm now of the firm opinion that although Delo 400 oil costs $35 a bottle, it's still cheap compared to what happens if I leave it alone. Especially important on a bike like this without a proper oil filter (just some steel mesh designed to catch metal chunks the size of M6 nuts).

[Dodgyiti]

Oil filter? What oil filter

Yeah, crazy eh?

Have a look on the interweb- someone will have plumbed something in. I did it on an old Suzuki. I used braided hoses and a chrome capsule thing that had a reusable foamie element type thing inside and threaded outlets either end. Ended up looking not too out of place, and it took another 200mls of oil to fill the capsule and lines, and that can't be a bad thing.
This was a long time ago so I have no idea what is avaliable now.

[xwhatsit]

Yeah I've seen pictures of a CB250RS with an oil cooler added. Should be possible to do that with an in-line oil filter too.

If the bike does leak oil out of that new fucked thread, what can I do? It's already been helicoiled once. What happened was when I undid the bolt, the coil came out with it. If the thread that the coil screws into is stuffed, what are my options here? Bigger thread?

In searching around the internet for answers to that question, I stumbled across this page: http://www.thumperpage.com/articles/nftfoh.html I know exactly how this guy feels . Actually from his description of the engine, it sounds almost identical to mine. Just twice the capacity. Probably the XL500 motor.

[Ixion]

Try Loctite stud lock (best to use the high temperature version ) on the OUTSIDE of the helicoil thread. Stud lock is high strength . If the thread is totally buggered it may not work, but if there is anything left it may hold the helicoil enough to tighten the actual stud. DON'T let the StudLoc get onto the bolt-helicoil joint or you'll never get the bolt out. StudLoc is NOT designed ever to be removed.

[xwhatsit]

Try Loctite stud lock (best to use the high temperature version ) on the OUTSIDE of the helicoil thread. Stud lock is high strength . If the thread is totally buggered it may not work, but if there is anything left it may hold the helicoil enough to tighten the actual stud. DON'T let the StudLoc get onto the bolt-helicoil joint or you'll never get the bolt out. StudLoc is NOT designed ever to be removed.

Ahhhh.... ok. Cheers! Hopefully it'll all the oil will stay inside the engine at least for the WOF though.