[Denny164l]

Yea I replaced Valve cover Gaskets on my "92" L and My intake runner bolts are stripped!!! I could barely get them off I couldnt get # 2 off going from right to left and I wanted to replace the little gaskets because it really needs them!!! Well I finshed installing the front and rear valve gaskets along with sparkplug well gaskets. Now im worried because I had to reuse those old allen screws and the old gaskets as well. and now intake #5 has a stripped thread man I was bummed out!! Its about 97 degrees and the only shade I have is my hood. I installed #6. I turned car on and a good whistle from number 5 where the screw is stripped luckly its the outside screw I got the 1223 but the cause was obvious. SOOO what I did was I unscrewed the long philps screw from upper driverside (where handle is located on passenger side) and a nut that fits it, I pushed that screw through the intake runners hole and held the nut with a flathead screwdriver and some sealant to keep the nut from falling in the V of the engine well I tightend it up and it sealed. I turned the car on and it idled nicely. But I have a feeling that there are little air leaks because those gaskets are so old. I want to replace all those little gaskets and those old screws as well I just want to know what size are these I was thinking they were 1/4 20 but didnt want to take any chances. Does anybody know what the sizes are and What can do to pull the stripped allen head on #2?? I was thinking of tapping #5 but its kind of hard to fit a tap in there.

 

[andrewg]

The Allen screw bolts should be either 6 mm thread maybe 5 mm, I forget which. I would either find a used set of the runner to head adapters or take yours off the car. If just the fasteners are damaged replace them. If the threads are damaged I would either clean the threads up with a tap or helicoil any trouble spots. The problem with the Allen bolts is tightening them or loosening. I have a long ball end spocket the helps in this process. A standard Allen key socket or wrench will not allow any misalignment without the possibility of stripping the fastener. Any air leaks in this spot will effect idle and performance.

 

[Alfisto Steve]

They are 6mm x 1.00 thread pitch same size as water pump bolts but allen head. I have seen hex head 6mm bolts used when allen head not available.

 

[elite38868]

I had the same issue as you, but I replaced mine with regular bolts of the same size with a Phillips style head. Since they have such low torque settings, i decided to go with that style bolt and had no problems.

Sometimes, I have used a 5.0mm hex key which was too small and a 6.0mm which is too big, so I tried a 5.5mm and that worked perfect.

 

[Denny164l]

Thanks guys I might being be doing my timing belt this coming weekend Ive read all your steps Steve about three times allready copied and pasted it to Notepad and printed it out. Well lets hope for the best. BTW car is idleing fine only jumps maybe 10 to 15 rpms but you cant really see it on the needle you mostly feel it but its all good and pulls great. But Im still going to replace the head to runner gaskets.

 

[elite38868]

Make sure to print out the Timing Template. Most useful tool period.

 

[MrT]

There was one stripped thread (in the very tiny "intake manifold" aluminum piece) for mounting the #3 intake runner on my wife's '92S. Do not forget that there may be un-stripped threads further down the hole if a short bolt was the real cause of the stripping. I stupidly thought I'd just back up this particular bolt with a nut and probably unnecessarily stripped a few otherwise usable threads in putting the nut on the bottom of the aluminum piece. It works, but it will not be fun taking it apart when I need to do that in 15 more years to rebuild the engine again. (OK, maybe 18 yrs.)

In short, check whether your bolt goes through the mount. If not (or even if), then get one long enough to do that and if you don't have usable threads maybe get a nut to back it up. It is not that gruesome just to dismount all the runners an the injectors and pull the manifold (2 screws, 2 bolts? for each, as I recall). Then get it fixed right. Weld it up and re-thread? For goodness' sake, given the tiny torque spec, you might just as well fill the hole with LocTite thread repair material. It needn't be torqued enough to strip it again, and that might be the easiest route.

Good luck. Don't discount using LocTite plastic stuff for that really low torque application for the intake runners.

Michael

 

[Denny164l]

Thanks Mr. T but I never sold you a mid section exhaust. I think you are confusing me with somebody else. Oh well thanks again guys.

 

[MrT]

You're right. His name was Danny and he was in NJ, I think. Sorry for the confusion -- post edited. But well-wishes remain.