SEAL-LOCK thread repair... these really work

[LowRider94]

I had the exhaust off my bike today to replace a bad exhaust manifold gasket, and one of the studs backed out of the head (instead of the nut coming off like it's supposed to).

This happened because I had broken a stud off in the head, and had to drill and tap it to put a new one back in. The threads just didn't seem tight enough to suit me, so I went out in search of a Heli-Coil kit.

Man... I didn't realize those Heli-Coil kits cost so much. About 75 dollars for what I needed (insertion tool, etc). That's pretty much a rip-off, so I continued shopping.

I went to a racing engine shop here in Wythle, VA where I live and asked what they used. They showed me the Seal-Lock inserts.

These Seal-Locks are self-tapping, so you don't even have to use a tap. You just drill out the bad threads to the depth of the insert, and take the bolt that's supposed to go in the hole... put a nut on the bolt as a stop... then thread the insert onto the bolt, then screw the insert into the hole. It self aligns and taps.



I used one of these for my bad exhaust stud, and it worked extremely well. I put some green permanent high temp thread/sleeve locker on it, and I think it's in there to stay.

Dan

[Padog]

I use them all the time they beat the hell out of the helicoils. They dont break up after time like the helicoils do nor do they tend to back out like the helicoils do. The material that is cut to make the threads is stored in pockets on the side of them and it helps bind them up so they stay in place forever.

We use them from 1/4" up to 11/8" thread sizes and have never yet had one fail.

[LowRider94]

That's good to hear... I've got a friend in a county north of me that runs a garage and they use Heli-Coils... but I'll tell him about these Seal-locks.

I'm going to post another image of the instructions from out of my photobucket because that earlier link isn't showing up all the time...

[Padog]

Yea I have used those my only problem was in the bigger sizes I had a couple issues of the bottom corners breaking off because of the edge they cut on them.

I switched over to the gardserts they are a little more expensive but they seem to install a little easier and arent prone to breaking off the bottom edges as they just have a pocket cut into them. Both work very well and beat the hell out of a heli coil.

Heres a link to the gardserts - http://www.gardspecialists.com/gardserts.pdf