Valve cover bolt not threading

[Devart]

Pardon the spelling, Grammer, and possibly some of the coherence due to posting from a cell phone.

after doing a valve adjustment I found that one of the 16 bolts to the cover doesn't thread. It just spins when it gets fully into the hole. Any suggestions on what I can do to fix this. I did try some of the other bolts in that spot.

[mike_of_bbg]

Did you check the lengths of the other bolts you tried? I know some models (mine included) has two VC bolts that are a touch longer (5mm?) than the others.

[tas850g]

Sounds familiar as I had to put helicoils in 3 thread holes that hold my cam journals on a ninja I once owned. Stripped threads. Not a difficult job as long as you can get a straight shot with your drill when redrilling the holes.

Look up helicoils and you'll find good how-to's IF this is the issue in your case.

[Devart]

Now that I'm finally home I checked out the bolts again. Unfortunately it is a stripped hole. I tried a few other bolts from the valve cover with the same effect. Also the other bolts would start threading half way into their respective holes. Whereas the bolt hole in question can have a bolt touch bottom by lightly pushing it in.

So I guess I’m onto helicoils. I believe I can do it on my own but I would have to pick up a kit and probably a good drill bit. I'm worried that there isn't enough metal around the base of the hole to be drilling in it. Is this something that I would be better off letting a shop do or do I save enough money to try it on my own?

Thanks for the quick response and advice mike_of_bbg and tas850g.

[hampshirehog]

If it's tight for a helicoil you could try tapping an imperial thread in there. 5/16 BSF if I remember correctly is the next size up thread from M6 - but don't rely on my memory....!

[JEEPRUSTY]

My cam bearing caps are made of silver cheese.

Lovely bearing metal but lousy for repeated tightening and loosening.

They should hav emade them with inserts cheap bastards.

[Devart]

So in this photo you can see the specific bolt hole. I guess I'm wondering if should get it threaded or not. I know that area isn't pressurized so could I run the bike without? Can anyone more experienced than me, tell me if there is enough metal around to use a helicoil?

[7981GS]

Tap to a 5 mm bolt and replace or make/cut a flat on the bottom of the hole boss and install a longer bolt with a flat washer and nut.
Something HAS to be there or it WILL leak.

Eric

[GelandeStrasse]

Red neck fix

Cut up a small piece of aluminum foil from the kitchen cupboard, fold it a few times and put it in the threaded part of the hole then try screwing in the bolt gently. If you're lucky and there is still some thread left the bolt will screw in tight. I've done this successfully lots of times on bikes where the PO was too heavy handed. Not a professional fix of coarse but effecive and it's always worked for me. In more extreme cases I've also used alu beer can instead of tin foil.

[platinum2]

should be enough room to helicoil it, a insert is better than helicoil, heli's are a pain in the arse, or maybe jbweld and re tap it to factory thread,since it shouldn't be over 5-7 ft lbs i dont think the jbweld will give any problems
just plug the bottom of the hole or cover it with tape, put in jbweld ,then drill and tap it, prolly best to have the cover off, then you can re seal the cover gasket with high temp rtv, no more leaks