• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Sheared off bolts and the right HeliCoil

  • Thread starter Thread starter doctorgonzo
  • Start date Start date
D

doctorgonzo

Guest
First, 1981 GS1000GX

Ok, getting to Phase 2 repairs now. Two of the bolts for my cylinder head cover are sheared off. The schematic says the bolt is 6 X 35 and if I read my service manual tables correctly it's a 1.0 pitch, so I want the Helicoil M6 X 1.0 for that right... Also, two header bolts are sheared off. The best I can tell these are M10 X 1.5. I want to order the kits (found them $19.99 each everything included even the drill bit) ASAP, but has anybody had to tap these holes before? Just be great to confirm I have the sizes right.
 
I emailed the owner of Stainless cycles where I got my bolt kits. Hopefully he'll reply. I'll let you know if he does. In the meantime, if anybody else has tapped these, let me know.
 
Hi there,
Normaly when you buy a Helicoil set the tap should be included.
Good luck with it.
Ed
 
doctorgonzo said:
First, 1981 GS1000GX

Ok, getting to Phase 2 repairs now. Two of the bolts for my cylinder head cover are sheared off. The schematic says the bolt is 6 X 35 and if I read my service manual tables correctly it's a 1.0 pitch, so I want the Helicoil M6 X 1.0 for that right... Also, two header bolts are sheared off. The best I can tell these are M10 X 1.5. I want to order the kits (found them $19.99 each everything included even the drill bit) ASAP, but has anybody had to tap these holes before? Just be great to confirm I have the sizes right.
Click to expand...

yup, lots of them...

make sure you get whats known as the "2D" heli-coils, they are appropriate for aluminium applications, the other sizes may not hold as well
id double check for the exhaust bolts, from memory they are M10x1.25

.
 
head cover bolts are 6x1. have fun....put some rags in there to get any metal bits. drill straight.
 
greg78gs750 said:
head cover bolts are 6x1. have fun....put some rags in there to get any metal bits. drill straight.
Click to expand...

This is a VERY good idea.

It might also help to use some grease on the rag, to give the bits something to adhere to.
 
Head

Head

As Greg says, your valve cover bolts are 6mm and 1.0 pitch. I'm pretty sure that your header bolts are 8mm...but I'm not positive.
 
I don't think that the header bolts would be much different between an 850 and an 1100, so I checked on a spare head that I have here.

The valve cover bolts are 6 x 1.0 mm

The header bolts are 8 x 1.25 mm.

.
 
Awesome, thank you guys!
Gonna order the kits tonight. Valve adjustment is next and should get those two bolts drilled out while I am at it (also replacing with machined stainless steel from stainless cycle). Bike is running the best yet, scary powerful when you hit about 5000 or 6000 RPM. Idle still wanders a bit, and major plug sooting has become very minor. I have a carbtune on the way also, but per recommendations here, valves first. Getting a pretty good raise in a couple weeks and celebration is a V&H 4 into 1.
 
If the bolts are broken off close to the surface, a person can usually weld a nut on the broken bolt. This gives you something to get ahold of, and it warms the bolt so it will help loosen the bolt. It may take several nuts welded on before it will come out, and sometimes it will come out first time. I have used this on aluminum castings, steel, and cast iron. Works great with aluminum because it expands to much.

I hate drilling and tapping in aluminum, because the bit likes to wander to the soft aluminum. YOu have to be dead on center when drilling out the broken bolt.

Greg
 
Valve cover is sheared below the hole or even for sure. The headers I'll have to pull them to know I think.
 
Unless I screwed it up, I just ordered the Helicoil 5546-6 Thread Repair Kit M6 x 1.0 from restockit.com (via Amazon) for about 28 bucks shipping and all. Drill bit, tap, either 6 or 12 coils can't remember.
 
thanks for the info
a great saving buying M8 and M6 but no shipping outside the usa, damn!
 
oOOOO. the bolts are still in there? ech. yeah, more difficult, for sure. try to get them out without having to drill them, per greg o's suggestion, cause, yeah, that alu. is so....ft.
 
greg78gs750 said:
oOOOO. the bolts are still in there? ech. yeah, more difficult, for sure. try to get them out without having to drill them, per greg o's suggestion, cause, yeah, that alu. is so....ft.
Click to expand...

Yep, 2 bolts missing from valve cover. I think, oh, I can clean those out with a little pick and some brake cleaner and put a new bolt in there. Might stop my leaking until I pull the cover and put a whole new gasket on when I do the valves. When I try it, I get just to the point where it should be hitting the head and "doink" stops dead on something solid, tap it with pick and it's so hard it has to be an old sheared off bolt.
 
Not trying to hijack the thread, but I've heard bad things about helicoils and am looking for other options for fixing sheared bolts (as there are 4 sheard exhaust bolts on my 850). I've seen other kits that would work, but they are really spendy!!! I also saw in another thread that someone drills, taps and locktights an alluminum rod into the old hole then taps it to replace the old hole.
This got me wondering if a person could drill the old bolt out, tap the hole (to create a jagged surface along the length of the hole), inject some sort of epoxy into the hole, and place a stud (of the correct size and projection) into the epoxy using the connection peice as a guide for proper placement of the stud. Has anyone tried anything like this? I found an epoxy called quicksteel that says it could be tapped also, so that could possibly be an option of using bolts instead of a fixed stud with a nut. I'm just not sure about the expansion/contraction of the block compared to they epoxy, if that could be a problem.
Just looking for some wisdom on the matter.
 
Last edited:
The consensus seems to be that Time Sert is a better choice than heli coil. I wound up not having to use either because once I got the cover off there was enough of a nub to weld a nut onto both of them and get them out. We'll find out about the header bolts in a few weeks when I do the exhaust.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top