stripped flywheel bolts

[cjames]

Got the crank out of the donor today and found more nasty things. A few days ago, I found a new clutch and flywheel when I pulled the trany. Today I find all the flywheel bolts stripped. Has anyone had luck putting inserts in an L6 crank? I've done it before on much larger crankshafts, but the L6 doesnt have much meat around the bolt holes as it is. Looks like it wil be tight even with heli-coils (not my first choice for inserts).

I hate to condemn an otherwise beautiful crank if theres a reasonably good chance of repair. I did a search, but didnt come up with much. I'd like to hear other thoughts before I pitch this thing in the scrap pile.

 

[JSM]

I would drill them out a little and re-thread.

[Tony D]

Crankshafts are plentiful, and cheap. Cheaper than the inserts, in fact here in SoCal. I think most junkyards like PYP are around $35-40 for a crankshaft. And it's not like there aren't hundreds of cranks out there waiting for harvesting.

 

Unless this crank has specialty machining, or has already been magnafluxed or something, I'd skip it and just get another one and stick it in there. If it was $1500 for a crank, that's one thing. But for under $100....

[cjames]

tonyd, you have a very good point... I see a perfect crank, without as much as a scratch on the journals, when I should be seeing a piece of steel that will require probably $100 worth of inserts, and a few valuable hours of my time.

[cjames]

I think I'll start looking around for a crank, but I'm still curious if anyones had good luck putting inserts in. I'll have to weigh the cost between getting a crank with good flywheel bolt threads, and having it turned or polished, and what it might take for me to do the inserts, assuming it can be done succesfully.