Bit of advise please guys.

Job I have been meaning to get around to but unsure of the best way to resolve .

Where the EGR bracket connects to the plenum,2 of the threaded bolt holes have become damaged,nodoubt due to it only being ali and having been removed several times in its life.This has ment that the EGR pipe doesn,t tighten fully and may be the sourec of an air leak I am sure I have.Despite wrapping ptfe tape around the bolts which has helped to get them to atleast form a degree of tension ,what would be the best course of action to renew a therad in the ali plenum....?

amba wrote on 31. Mar 2011 at 13:32:

.... what would be the best course of action to renew a therad in the ali plenum....?

You could use a Helicoil but Timeserts are better.  :y

Looking at Timeserts they are very pricey for a small repair...think helicoil is the most cost effective solution.

Any idea of what thread size might be required for this repair ? as never used it before so will need to have a read-up.

For future, its best to invest in a big spanner 24 or 27mm iirc?
for removing the EGR, Much safer than doing the little ones.

amba wrote on 31. Mar 2011 at 14:10:

Looking at Timeserts they are very pricey for a small repair...think helicoil is the most cost effective solution.

Depends on if you can borrow a set from work or have a relocated set in your garage from when you were invited to a redundance.  ;)  ;)


amba wrote on 31. Mar 2011 at 14:10:

Any idea of what thread size might be required for this repair ? as never used it before so will need to have a read-up.

At a guess I'd say M8  :-/

It has nodoubt be caused by previous mechanics!!removing it and only being ali thread has got to the point of no return(or thread left).

When repaired will remove by your suggested method..Jimbob..thanks.

Andy B..present and previous lives have had no engineering back ground so tools tend to be purchased on a need to basis so you have obviously been fortunate in some respects in a "previous life ".

I have never had occasion to repair a damaged thread so am gratefull for guidance and will go down the Heliciol route as it appears ,in my situation,more cost effective ,and I assume will repair the damage without the need to purchase a replacement plenum although it may work out cheaper in the long run if a breaker is available .

Can't see a scrappy charging more than £10-£15 for a plenum tbh, I would replace personally but those threads are soft as sh*t

Omegod...that is starting to look like the best solution I think...about £20 for  a M8 heliciol kit and then still needing to do the repair.

Plenum for £10/£15 with a bit of postage ..will think on .

amba wrote on 31. Mar 2011 at 15:29:

Omegod...that is starting to look like the best solution I think...about £20 for  a M8 heliciol kit and then still needing to do the repair. Plenum for £10/£15 with a bit of postage ..will think on .

helicoils are pretty easy to use,just an over size tap and screw in the helicoil and break off its tab

It appears you just buy a kit with all the bits in...drill a hole and then tap it to gain a thread..then insert the helicoil which apears as just a spring type thing and then snap off the little locater lug..makes it sound as if I know what I am doing ..lol.

Do I jut get the size bigger than the threaded hole ?and if I fit m8 heliocoil then I need to fit m8 bolts into the new created thread..sorry to sound thick but like to understand what is involved.

amba wrote on 31. Mar 2011 at 16:58:

It appears you just buy a kit with all the bits in...drill a hole and then tap it to gain a thread..then insert the helicoil which apears as just a spring type thing and then snap off the little locater lug..makes it sound as if I know what I am doing ..lol.

You've convinced me.  ;D ;D


amba wrote on 31. Mar 2011 at 16:58:

Do I jut get the size bigger than the threaded hole ?and if I fit m8 heliocoil then I need to fit m8 bolts into the new created thread..sorry to sound thick but like to understand what is involved.

There's an H somewhere on the helicoil tap - it's been years since I've last used one - so you get a specific M8H tap which is the correct tap for helicoil that the M8 bolt screws into.  :y :y

I did the same to mine a while back (bit heavy handed!! :-[) and tried sealing it with some instant gasket which was partially successful and I thought about drilling the holes out and tapping a new thread but I ended up buying another from a scrappy.

Maybe one of the breakers on here will have one or look for Omega spare parts on ebay or google  :y

Could you still remove the bracket if it used studs rather than bolts?

If so, just loctite some M8 studs in the remaining threads, and use nuts on them.

M8 is a standard exhaust stud size, so you could do the job for a couple of quid, with no drilling etc.