School me on helicoils

[Sal Paradise]

Pulled the exhaust off an old bike today. One exhaust bolt snapped and so far - heat, wd 40 and a screw extractor aren't budging it.

Its an M6 and I was able to drill out pretty straight- have an 1/8" bit through it now.

So what size helicoil, drill ect am I looking at? Any tips?

 

[mikenva]

go to napa they sell kits with the tap and the right size drill.Its a odd size tap so you will need to use what the tap calls for.Allso use some blue locktite on the heli coil.

 

[Sal Paradise]

Thanks Mike I have a NAPA right down the street from me. Maybe I'm overly worried but should I go to a bigger enough size so that the M6 bolt can be used? I'm assuming that means drilling the hole in the head ..oversize to or 8 - 10 MM to allow for the thickness of the Helicoil. Fuck that sounds a little risky, I shoudl probably downsize, right?

 

[Sal Paradise]

Well I drilled it out for one size smaller bolt actually - M6. The original were M8 I think. Never really tapped anything before so I faked it till I made it. Seems to hold pretty well - the kit was $40.

 

[mikenva]

good deal I try to use same size .they set them up so you have enough meat to drill over size.As long as it holds its ok if it dont you can still go bigger.

 

[Sal Paradise]

I'm still fucked with this project as I cannot find a replacement exhaust for a GSX250.

 

[sweatmachine]

Take it to a machine shop. They can get the bolt out with an EDM machine aka a spark eroder.