Previous owner got me Fucced....

CobraStar_LS8

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Last night driving home my Mark started missin' with a weird noise like a broken lifter so I pulled over to pop the hood and hear the noise and then it was a different noise...one I'm not familiar with so I made it home babying the car and this morning I tried to find the sound with a screwdriver to my ear and thought it's coming from the injectors...I reved it alittle while listening and it had a exhaust leak sound coming from the driver's side coil cover so I opened up the cover and saw alittle smoke...I was like "DAMN!!!, I bet the damn thing spit a plug"...sure enough I pulled cylinder 6 coil out and it's boot was busted up and it pulled the spark plug out with it...On the plug thread it was smashed up so I know whoever replaced them last striped the plug well thread so I'm fucced...I'm not ready to spend too much money at this point so is anybody here in Houston with a Time-Sert Kit with one insert can loan it out to me I'm willing to pay...Thanks
 
That happened to me two years ago in my 97. I had my mechanic resleeve it. I wasn't comfortable doing that myself.
 
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that blows but dont be quick to blame the previous owner, plugs have been known to shoot out of these modular motors on the newer fords too, even with no one touching them since the vehicle was built. its aluminum and under alot of pressure under the plug, it very well could have just let go all on its own.
 
heli coil make a timesert type insert

i did mine in the driveway

it wasnt that bad, hardest part was comitting to running the reamer tool into the hole.

i got the repair kit at autozone for 30ish dollars
 
if you can rotate the crank by hand and bring that piston up as close to the top as you can, drill and make a mess, when all said and done take a vacuum and adapt a thin hose to the vacuum and suck out all the drill shavings before you put the plug in and start it.

just dont drill into the piston lol!!
 
Happened to me on the champagne 94. I put a sleeve in, but i just didn't want to drive it any more after that. The guy who bought it from me is still driving it though. I saw it just the other day. :D
 
I had the same issue with my 2v GT a few years back. Blew out 3 plugs! It cost me $150 to fix. I bought the time sert kit for $400 used it, then sold it on ebay for $325. I had to buy a few other things like impact wrench, plugs etc which is why the cost hit $150.

Time-sert kits are better than your standard heli-coil because they have a lip that seats on the head whereas heli-coils don't....at least that's how it was last time I looked.
 
^^^That why I was hoping someone might have that kit...I love my mark too much to helicoil it and sale it to someone else...If I can get a hand on the Time-Sert Kit I can live with it...Helicoils are another story
 
If it's a compressor and impact wrench you need to use you can use mine. If you can make it here. lol

In a couple of days I'll have my portable compressor working ( blew gasket ) and you could borrow that if needed.

I have no idea what this kit consists of just trying to help out.
 
Why don't you buy it new then resell it? You'll be hard pressed to find anyone with the kit (although it never hurts to look). I took the plunge cause no one else had a kit and I wasn't about to pay nearly $1000 to the shop.
 
I put close to 300K on my motor after I put the helicoil brand insert in...

And after we got the car back after it was stolen that head went into service on a mustang and it's still running today.

the helicoil brand has a knurled end that gets seated into the heat with the expansion tool after the insert is screwed into the head.

It worked well... I considered putting the inserts into the rest of the holes because the repaired hole was much better than the original threads.
 
XLR you have to admit though regardless of if your car lasted with a heli-coil that the time-sert design is superior. The idea of having a lip that seals to the head is a better idea than one without a lip...especially considering engines are pressurized.

I'm not trying to get in a pissing match with you here...I'm seriously curious if you think they are on equal footing?
 
what if I'm gonna boost it like at 6psi down the road??? wonder if helicoil will hold up to the extra pressure...Is the helicoil kit for repairing the threads with the heads on too or only with the heads off?
 
XLR you have to admit though regardless of if your car lasted with a heli-coil that the time-sert design is superior. The idea of having a lip that seals to the head is a better idea than one without a lip...especially considering engines are pressurized.

I'm not trying to get in a pissing match with you here...I'm seriously curious if you think they are on equal footing?

I never had a single problem with combustion leaks on the repaired cylinder.
If it were leaking due to not having this LIP.. there would be tell take tracks on the spark plugs, they would be discolored and show signs of leakage.

I dont see how.. this insert could leak.. it's got threads on the outside, which will be sealed up in the cylinder just like a spark plug would be.

Yes I honestly believe the helicoil repair is "on equal footing"..so long as it's installed correctly.
 
what if I'm gonna boost it like at 6psi down the road??? wonder if helicoil will hold up to the extra pressure...Is the helicoil kit for repairing the threads with the heads on too or only with the heads off?

I did mine with the head AND the valve cover still on the car.

and.. since the combustion pressures are ABOVE 160LBS I dont see how an additional 5-6 lbs would make THAT much difference, your talking about a small percentage of pressure increase..comparitively speaking
 
I'm gonna try the Helicoil kit tomorrow afternoon...Hopefully they come with the correct inserts

The one I got at VatoZone had three difference sized inserts
One was the exact duplicate of the original threads
One has 2 more rounds of threads and the third was double the amount of threads for a total of 8 threads.

I used the middle sized one, rather than the exact same as original threads.

You'll see what I mean.

Stock there are only 4 rounds of threads in the hole
The inserts give you some options.
I dont think I'd stick the 8 thread one in there though.



Only tip I'd suggest is..
Getting some bearing grease to put on the thread reaming tool, that'll help catch the shavings.. I used RTV because I didn't have any grease.
RTV worked, but it was a bad idea.. in the long run.
 

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