Heli-Coil

[MikeN02]

Anyone have any experiences with this? I made a newbie mistake and stripped the threading on my bike's oil pan while changing the oil. A lot of people suggest I put a Heli-Coil in there and it'll be stronger than OEM.

Luckily I'm having a friend who works in that department do it for me on monday, was wondering what you all think vs the other thingy ma doodle... timeserts.

 

[Spunky99]

Anyone have any experiences with this? I made a newbie mistake and stripped the threading on my bike's oil pan while changing the oil. A lot of people suggest I put a Heli-Coil in there and it'll be stronger than OEM.

Luckily I'm having a friend who works in that department do it for me on monday, was wondering what you all think vs the other thingy ma doodle... timeserts.

I've built aircraft engines from VW engines and the first thing I do is have all the threads replaced with heli-coils. You can't have anything strip out and fail when flying as there is no side of the road to pull over onto.
Excellent upgrade and having someone do it that knows what they are doing is perfect.:iconbeer:

 

[husker525]

Helicoils are easy to use, and I use them all of the time in repairing race quads. I would not be afraid to use them on just about anything. Depending on the location, you can also re-tap the threads using a tap and die set if you have access to one. Helicoils work excellent for aluminum too.

 

[Marthy]

I'm a big fan of Timesert. What I like is you can get them in small, medium and thick wall. A little more expensive initially, but much better quality then Helicoils. But Helicoil should be good enough for what you need to do...

 

[JSP]

Just be sure to flush it out as much as you can if you are not pulling the pan. It will leave some good shavings in there.

 

[FitZ6R]

Yeah, heli-coil should do it. It not, there's room to drill & tap for a larger plug.

I'm curious, did the threads strip from over-tightening? And if so, were you using a new crush washer?

 

[MikeN02]

Yeah, heli-coil should do it. It not, there's room to drill & tap for a larger plug.

I'm curious, did the threads strip from over-tightening? And if so, were you using a new crush washer?

Yeah the threads stripped from over-tightening. I wasn't planning on using a torque wrench but it was tuff to get off. Unlike the FZ6-R where the drain bolt is on the side so you can easily see which direction is righty tighty lefty loosey, the drain bolt is on the bottom. So I overtightened it to take it off then when I kept tightening it to take it off it wouldn't come off so I turned the other direction and felt sick.

Jspansel had this happen as well, apparently it's a big newbie mistake that everyone overtightens it.

 

[MikeN02]

Ugh, so I couldn't find the right heli-coil as no auto place sells a M14- 1.5 for the R6. They only had M14 1.25.

Got an oversized Oil drain bolt from AutoZone size M14 - 1.5. Threaded it, cleaned out the metal shavings. Put in new oil and now it leaks, not a lot but a couple of drops every 15 minutes or so.

Would replacing the washer fix this? Currently have the washer that came with the bolt on there, it's a half inch rubber washer I believe. Change it to a crush washer?

 

[husker525]

You could always use plumbers tape on the threads as well. I am not sure a new crush washer will seal the leak enough.

 

[Marthy]

Maybe a bit of high temp silicone on the thread and on the surface where it sit might get the job done. Make sure you don't stuff any in there... oil pump hate that! Not the best option, but hey... shit happen.

 

[MikeN02]

Did a little research, the washer is the seal for the drain plug. Usually you torque the drain plug 31 ft/lb IF there is a new washer in there.

So I took my torque wrench and seat it to 10 ft/lb and turned it slowly, lets just hope it doesn't leak.

 

[FitZ6R]

Got an oversized Oil drain bolt from AutoZone size M14 - 1.5. Threaded it, cleaned out the metal shavings. Put in new oil and now it leaks, not a lot but a couple of drops every 15 minutes or so.

Would replacing the washer fix this? Currently have the washer that came with the bolt on there, it's a half inch rubber washer I believe. Change it to a crush washer?

Man, that sucks. Holding oil under zero pressure shouldn't be this hard.

The stock crush washer is a tight fit on the original bolt, so I doubt it will fit the oversize bolt. Autozone has fiber, aluminum, nylon, and rubber drain plug gaskets - get everything they have that fits and one of them's gotta work.

I'm less optimistic about thread sealant or tape - those are really meant for tapered pipe threads.

Or maybe the path of least resistance is to get the drain hole TIG welded, and in the future, just turn the bike upside down to drain the oil.

 

[JSP]

Yeah, Thats why I didnt want to mess with any of that... Just stripped the bike and put a whole new pan on.

 

[FitZ6R]

Unlike the FZ6-R where the drain bolt is on the side so you can easily see which direction is righty tighty lefty loosey, the drain bolt is on the bottom. So I overtightened it to take it off

Been there, done that, broke something, except in my case it was a toilet.

The reason I asked about the crush washer is that they're intended to be single-use items. You can get away with reinstalling them, but there's not much room for error on the torque spec.

 

[MikeN02]

Went to go check, no leaks so far. Haven't started the engine up yet.

 

[Detrich]

That's great news mike. Keep us posted.

 

[MikeN02]

So, no leaks! Yesss. I tested it by going over a friends house, no leaks.

Did triple digits in a semi controlled environment and no leaks! Wooot!

 

[Stephenfz6r]

Hi Mike, the worst thing that this plug can do now is sweat a bit oil. You could also ask your machinist friend to cut an o-ring groove in the plug, then add an o-ring to make a better seal.

:thumbup: