Mr. Vapor

was putting my exhaust manifold back on....and as i was tightening my bolts down the factory spec 23lbs of torque something didnt feel right...wasnt getting any tighter as i was turning. so i immediatly backed the bolt back out (top left or passenger side if looking from the front of the car) as i pulled hte bolt out first i was scared i snapped the bolt in there. As i took it out, it was accompanied by a shaving of the head roughly 3.5 threads long. ****. so i took out my examination mirror and looked into the head, sure nuff, the first 3 threads of that hole stripped right out. everything else beyond that is fine.

Nervous as to what i should do. I do not want to re-tap the head and oversize that bolt. however im concerend that with 3 threads missing in the front the physics of that bolt will be sufficiently declined due to the loss in holding power that bolt now has.

my idea was to just loctite that bolt and hope for the best. any ideas or thoughts?

do i proceed or should this be taken care of.

dustin

Use a stud instead of a bolt... and loctite it. Heck, replace all of them with studs.

Mr. Vapor

well im using the OEM bolts that were originally holding my stock exhaust manifold on. just re-using them for my turbo manifold....

non-VTEC

bolts suck......i dont know why honda cheaped out on the newer heads and used bolts instead of studs.

find a junk honda head with the studs still in there and replace them all with the studs and nuts.......you wont have anymore thread problems if you use the studs.

Mr. Vapor

arghh....will the stud be an issue with my existing problem (stipped threads?)

Mr. Vapor

dont have time to go to a junk yard...

do you think a local auto parts store (advance auto etc) would have them? what year honda should i be looking for to find these studs?

dustin

What engine? They should all be the same anyways.

nonvtecD

I had my exhaust mani held on by 7 bolts (normally 9) for a while. One wouldn't fit around my turbo mani and another stud just pulled out. Anyway, I experienced no problems.

Mr. Vapor

thanks for the heads up guys.

looks like ill be switching to studs. my '00 Si came with bolts stock, im not sure why they didnt use studs? but none the less ill be heading to the dealer to get *** raped on price. went to advance auto they didnt stock them

dustin

Newer honda heads all use the bolts ... they are cheaper hehe.

Just get the studs+nuts from any '94 integra.... they will work.

Bailhatch

just get an 8mm x 1.25mm stud (both ends) at any auto parts store if you can't get a Honda one.

ImAcracker

Good gawd people. you are making this harder than it has to be. Just heli coil the ******.

Bailhatch

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ImAcracker &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Good gawd people. you are making this harder than it has to be. Just heli coil the ******.</TD></TR></TABLE>

for 3 threads? that's a huge waste of time. As long as you have 5 or more in the head and aren't over tightening it will be fine. After a certain point extra threads don't help holding power at all. The majority of the stress is on the first 3 or 4. That's why nuts don't need to be 20 threads deep to do their job properly.

dustin

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ImAcracker &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Good gawd people. you are making this harder than it has to be. Just heli coil the ******.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Eh he can just use the bolt right now actually. But we're trying to prevent the problem from getting worse in the future. Honda aluminum heads aren't meant to be threaded into all the time. I know with the turbo setups I have had, the manifold is on and off the car almost once a month hehe.

ImAcracker

I say just heli coil all of them while the manifolds off. All of mine are.