surprise!

[StangGuy67]

Imagine my surprise on Labor day when I took the 600 out for a ride. Cruising along fine, when all of a sudden there was a BANG, followed by a puff of smoke. Opened the hood, and noticed that one of the spark plugs had popped out. Went to screw it back in, and, lo and behold, the threads on the head were stripped!! What can I do about this? A Helicoil? If so, what type? Who carried them? Technique on putting it in?
Thanks!
Kraig Griffiths
72 N600

[dealadayray]

Hi Kraig;
    To bad about the plug.  Two options, a head that has good threads or repair.  Keenserts are the best, you will want the M14 by 1.25 thread pitch.  3/4 in. long and you will also need the seal for the top.  Then go to the local VW machine shop and see if they have the tool to put the keensert in and fix the seal.  Both require that you remove the head.  But the results are far better.  If there is no one up there to do the job, South Bay Machine down here will do the job.
    Bill

> ----- Original Message -----
> From:
> StangGuy67@...
> To:
> 2cylinderhondas@yahoogroups.com
> Sent:
> Tuesday, September 02, 2003 10:16
> PM
> Subject:
> [2cylinderhondas]
> surprise!
> Imagine my surprise on Labor day when I took the 600
> out for a ride. Cruising along fine, when all of a sudden there was a BANG, > followed by a puff of smoke. Opened the hood, and noticed that one of the > spark plugs had popped out. Went to screw it back in, and, lo and behold, the > threads on the head were stripped!! What can I do about this? A Helicoil? If > so, what type? Who carried them? Technique on putting it > in?
> Thanks!
> Kraig Griffiths
> 72 N600
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[StangGuy67]

In a message dated 9/2/03 11:54:36 PM, billmyong@... writes:
Hi Kraig;
��� To bad about the plug.� Two options, a head that has good threads or repair.� Keenserts are the best, you will want the M14 by 1.25 thread pitch.� 3/4 in. long and you will also need the seal for the top.� Then go to the local VW machine shop and see if they have the tool to put the keensert in and fix the seal.� Both require that you remove the head.� But the results are far better.� If there is no one up there to do the job, South Bay Machine down here will do the job.�
�
��� Bill
�
Thanks for the tip, Bill. I'll look into that!
-Kraig

[krisd]

I had a plug pop out in my Rabbit. I used a Helicoil kit that I
bought at the local NAPA. It included a tap that kept everything
lined up. No recutting of a seal face needed. Technically, I should
have taken the head off, but I did not bother. I just made sure to
make nice big chips, and I used a nice vacuum with a little hose on
it to vacuum the chips out. A couple of crank overs to blow out
anything left over, and I was done. I changed the oil about 50 miles
later and cut open the filter. No shavings in the filter (pistons
fit cylinders pretty well).
Maybe it was not the best method, but it worked fine. Yes, it does
break some "rules," but by being careful everything went fine. I
have since had the motor open (replacing seals, checking bearings,
etc.) and I have never seen any evidence of having had aluminum chips
get anywhere they should not have.
Matthew

[riceburner006]

--- In 2cylinderhondas@yahoogroups.com, StangGuy67@a... wrote:

> Imagine my surprise on Labor day when I took the 600 out for a ride. Cruising
> along fine, when all of a sudden there was a BANG, followed by a puff of
> smoke. Opened the hood, and noticed that one of the spark plugs had popped out.
> Went to screw it back in, and, lo and behold, the threads on the head were
> stripped!! What can I do about this? A Helicoil? If so, what type? Who carried
> them? Technique on putting it in?
> Thanks!
> Kraig Griffiths
> 72 N600

I also popped a sparkplug out of my sedan many years ago. I remember
my top speed on level road with 1 cyl.was 25mph! Used KD kit with
tap. Do not recommend it! To do it right,bad hole needs to be
drilled first,then tapped for insert using aluminum tap fluid. Never
tried keensert,will check it out. riceburner006