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[Paul M]

Ho hum... have just spent the best part of the last 6 hours :O working on the Omega. Mainly to repair the problem of the spark plug that blew out the hole a few weeks ago resulting in me getting recovered home, but while I was at it I decided I may as well go the whole hog -- new rocker gaskets, new HBV and new plugs and leads.

Have now got the new gaskets and HBV fitted, and new leads in place, many thanks to the guys who wrote the how-tos for these. Also checked the breathers are still clear which they are. When I was torquing (sp?) up the plugs, 5 of them nipped up fine but the last one -- the one that had blown out -- tightens up just to the point of resistance then lets go  . So the thread's stripped, having never encountered this before where do I go from here? Incidentally it was still sitting on the end of the lead, although the lead's insulator was destroyed, so I guess the stripped thread explains the cause of it coming out.

Other problems encountered (or created) along the way are: Lost one of the bolts for the inlet bridge; broke the electrical part of the rear multi-ram controller (snapped off when I tried to remove the connector); and broke the plastic part of the cruise control cable when trying to disconnect the throttle cable.  

So I guess I'm going to have to leave it for now until I can at least get the spark plug thread sorted and another bolt for the inlet bridge (or find the old one). The rear multi-ram and cruise control I can obviously live without for now.

Any advice appreciated... I'm gonna head out on my R1 soon to take my mind off that damn car!

[irratic]

heli coil your spark plug hole..

[Admin]

Indeed. M14 x 1.25 if I remember correctly.
Mark will know as he has the kit from we had to do one on my MV6 (No.1 cylinder).

I may have a multiram connector, I'll check.

I certainly have the bolt.

[Paul M]

Cheers guys. Needless to say I know absolutely nothing about helicoiling, I assume it involves cutting a larger diameter thread and inserting a threaded sleeve with outer diameter of the newly cut threat and inner diameter of the spark plug thread?

Looks like it'll be waiting until next weekend anyway as I won't be able to move it from my folks' until it's sorted. Please tell me I don't need to take the rocker cover back off to helicoil it! It's the passenger side too, though thankfully the front one so quite easy to reach.

[TheBoy]

Cheers guys. Needless to say I know absolutely nothing about helicoiling, I assume it involves cutting a larger diameter thread and inserting a threaded sleeve with outer diameter of the newly cut threat and inner diameter of the spark plug thread?

Looks like it'll be waiting until next weekend anyway as I won't be able to move it from my folks' until it's sorted. Please tell me I don't need to take the rocker cover back off to helicoil it! It's the passenger side too, though thankfully the front one so quite easy to reach.

Sorry to hear this

At least it ain't No 6, as sods law would say that it would be...

Good luck with it.

[Paul M]

Sorry to hear this

At least it ain't No 6, as sods law would say that it would be...

Good luck with it.

Yeah I guess I should be thankful it's an accessible cylinder. I was just a bit peeved after stripping everything down, replacing the gaskets, plug leads and HBV, spending ages draining oil from the plug holes, only to discover the last plug I tried to torque up didn't want to play . I was kinda expecting to have the car back on the road running even better than before after that lot.

Still, I can be grateful that a stripped thread was the cause of the plug coming out, rather than the plug breaking up which could have ended up with bits in the cylinder.

I'm looking forward to getting it started though as I expect it'll smoke like a chimney for a few seconds while it burns off the small amount of oil I couldn't get out of the plug wells... It'll be just like owning a diesel for a short while

[TheBoy]

Sorry to hear this

At least it ain't No 6, as sods law would say that it would be...

Good luck with it.

Yeah I guess I should be thankful it's an accessible cylinder. I was just a bit peeved after stripping everything down, replacing the gaskets, plug leads and HBV, spending ages draining oil from the plug holes, only to discover the last plug I tried to torque up didn't want to play . I was kinda expecting to have the car back on the road running even better than before after that lot.

Still, I can be grateful that a stripped thread was the cause of the plug coming out, rather than the plug breaking up which could have ended up with bits in the cylinder.

I'm looking forward to getting it started though as I expect it'll smoke like a chimney for a few seconds while it burns off the small amount of oil I couldn't get out of the plug wells... It'll be just like owning a diesel for a short while

LOL, like a diesel but with about 100 more horsepower....

[Markjay]

Cheers guys. Needless to say I know absolutely nothing about helicoiling, I assume it involves cutting a larger diameter thread and inserting a threaded sleeve with outer diameter of the newly cut threat and inner diameter of the spark plug thread?

No exactly - Helicoil looks like a spring and gets in between the bolt and the stripped thread. See for example:

http://www.helicoilservices.co.uk/helicoil.htm

[theolodian]

Cheers guys. Needless to say I know absolutely nothing about helicoiling, I assume it involves cutting a larger diameter thread and inserting a threaded sleeve with outer diameter of the newly cut threat and inner diameter of the spark plug thread?

No exactly - Helicoil looks like a spring and gets in between the bolt and the stripped thread. See for example:

http://www.helicoilservices.co.uk/helicoil.htm

You do have to cut larger threads with a special tap that comes with the kit.  (You need to make room for the helicoil, it's not that thin.)  They say you can do spark plugs without taking the head off, but thankfully I have never had to do a plug.  I guess you would want to put some thick greas ont he tap to catch as many filings as possible.  Also, be very careful not to drop the tang when you break it off.  I expect that you will need VERY long needle-nose pliers to do the tang.

[Paul M]

Shi... this is starting to sound like a bas of a job :O anyone done it on a V6 meega?

[theolodian]

Shi... this is starting to sound like a bas of a job :O anyone done it on a V6 meega?

If you've never done a helicoil a spark plug is a helluva place to start.  If you've done one, doing them is easy.  The b@stard ones are EM studs, b/c you have to drill a hardened stud out first.  The helicoil bit is a doddle.

I would rather someone who has done one speak up, but if they don't I will tell you how I would do it if I had to do one without guidance.  Then you can decide if you want to try it or not.  Might be worth finding a local machine shop and seeing if the machinist will do it on the car for a couple tenners.  I'd do it myself before giving it to most mechanics.

[Dave-C]

Might be worth bringing that cylinder up to TDC, when you do it!  Just incase you drop something in there..

DC

[Marks DTM Calib]

I have done one....

Lots of grease on the tap to catch the swarf.....clean it off regularly and keep putting fresh grease on...

Winding the helicoil in is easy....I made a special tool for removing the tang....it was a length of rod with a  hole drilled in it so the little bugger didn't fall into the cylinder...

Much easier to do with the cam cover removed....

[Paul M]

I have done one....

Lots of grease on the tap to catch the swarf.....clean it off regularly and keep putting fresh grease on...

Winding the helicoil in is easy....I made a special tool for removing the tang....it was a length of rod with a  hole drilled in it so the little bugger didn't fall into the cylinder...

Much easier to do with the cam cover removed....

Mark do you still have the bits to do this? I'd be grateful if I could borrow them, along with some detailed instructions. I'm in completely unchartered waters here -- I have no idea what a tang is! Of course I'll pay post and a few beer tokens for your trouble.

It would be good if it can be done without removing the cam cover again, maybe with it being the front cylinder access may be OK? I'll make a decision on that once I know what's involved. It's a lot of hassle to remove the inlet bridge on mine due to the injector pipes for the dual-fuel system making it a PITA to access the bolts

Cheers
Paul.

[Paul M]

I may have a multiram connector, I'll check.

I certainly have the bolt.

Can you check to see if you've got these bits and I'll buy them off you, ideally want to get them by the weekend, although the multi-ram thing isn't so important as it can be fitted afterwards without having to remove much.

Cheers
Paul.