Ugh, so now what ??

[RedMeanzGo]

Just replaced all my lower balance shaft seals, smoothed my loctite over the mating surfaces, and very carefully started torquing the bolts in order. Then I got to one of the short ones, and I felt it wasn’t getting any tighter. I stopped immediately, but I fear the hole is going to be stripped if I continue turning that bolt. Not sure what to do at this point. Can I get away without having that bolt torqued down ? Or do I need to address this now. If so… helicoil ??

[944m3]

You could just put a nice coating of gasket maker silicon around that area (on the outside) and call it a day. I’ve done that to seal the rear of the balance shaft housing. The goal is to keep it from leaking oil.

[Tom]

I'd helicoil it. Helicoils in aluminum are stronger than the original threads, so make for a permanent and professional repair. Practice on a spare aluminum part if you are new to doing it. It's quick and easy really. My motor has several helicoils and I've never had a problem with any of them.

[Evan]

Don’t skip that bolt it’ll leak or worse. If it’s already stripped, helicoil or time-sert it now. Better to fix it right than risk oil everywhere later. Check the bolt too if it’s stretched, replace it.

[dr bob]

I'm a time-sert fan for durability/function, with heli-coils a little more forgiving especially if you haven't done a thread repair like this before. Fixing the thread is the right way to solve the problem.

[RedMeanzGo]

Thanks for the feedback ! It looks like heli coil is the way I’ll go. I hate the idea of having to do everything that I just did over again, but I do want it done right. I ordered all new bolts also. Thanks again !

[eland843]

Use a Helicoil kit to repair the stripped hole.