so I finally fixed my crazy oil leak by replacing the valve cover gaskets (the old ones where so dried and cracked, they just broke, no flexibilty) with new, OEM ones, along with the rubber seals around the bolts...anyway, while I was torqueing down the passenger side, one of the bolt-holes stripped out. and of course, when something attached to the motor strips, it's never the bolt....nooooo, it's got to be the hole in the head! :banghead:

 

I've got a piece of wire wrapped around a few other bolts nearby keeping pressure on it now, and it only leaks a bit (less than it did before) but it's a really half@$$ed fix. is there an easy way to fix this? I don't want to drill and tap, and the block get's too hot for JBWeld (I've tried it....).

 

I can have my mom bring up a head from my spare block at their place in a couple weeks, but I'm kinda worried about it for now...

 

also, if I replace the head, I should probably replace both head gaskets too shouldn't I? which means changing the oil again! grrrr!!!!

all you need to did is tap it out to the next size up or get the cam rail for that side which is not part of the head

The VC bolts to the cam case, so that's what you'd need from your spare engine.

 

Once upon a time, I had some VC bolts that wouldn't tighten (see long story below for full info). What held (temporarily) was to do the following:

 

Take VC off. Thoroughly clean the VC, gasket, and mating surface of the cam case. Get ALL the oil off the surfaces.

 

Use RTV silicone and apply a bead in the VC gasket groove. Squish the gasket into the RTV and make sure that it is holding well.

 

Apply another bead of RTV to the VC gasket. Install the VC gasket on the engine and tighten up all of the bolts that you can. If a whole section of the VC won't tighten, use whatever you can to put some pressure on the joint.

 

Let the car sit for a day or 2 to let the RTV cure.

 

This type of fix lasted me 6 months until I had a chance to repair it right.

 

Long Story (I think it's a cool one)

 

On my first car, 2 of the passenger side valve cover bolts wouldn't tighten up. When I finally got around to taking the cover off, I found that the mounting points in the cam case had been snapped off!

 

I can only guess that someone was trying to pry/lift the engine up, using only the valve cover for a grab point.

 

The metal was snapped where the threads were (i.e. 180 degrees of thread was still on the cam case, the other 180 degrees was on the broken chunk of metal). The mechanic had tried to epoxy the pieces together, and then silicone over everything. It was horrible. Before giving me the car, my dad had said that the mechanic told him there was a valve problem with the engine, and that it was a $1500 fix.

 

I had owned the car for about 1 year before I took the VC off and saw the damage. It was about 6 more months before I found the USMB and realized it was something I could fix myself. This repair (new cam case) was the first "major" repair I had ever done to my car.

 

Now, it's not even scary when I think about pulling an engine or swapping a transmission.

 

LONG LIVE THE USMB!

It's not the head, its the cam case that bolt goes into.

 

Hardest part of drilling that out is access to the hole with a drill... can barely get in there with a hand and a wrench. Maybe if you could drop the engine/tranny assembly enough to get access to it with a drill you'd have some luck there. Drill and tap to next size up.

 

Torque spec is really low for those; like 15ft/lbs I think?

Hardest part of drilling that out is access to the hole with a drill... can barely get in there with a hand and a wrench.

 

That's why I say that drilling and tapping is out of the question, for now, I had to go buy a set of ratchet wrenches just to get the bolts off. and since I'm going EJ22 next summer, I'm totally up for crappy repairs.

 

I think I'll try the RTV trick. Thanks! do you think that will work for the bolt seal too? the threads for that bolt are GONE, so the bolt will just fall out otherwise.

put a big ratchet strap around the engine

put a big ratchet strap around the engine

 

How about do that. Then JB Weld the bolt into the hole. Let it cure and then take off the strap.

 

Ghetto-tech

How about do that. Then JB Weld the bolt into the hole. Let it cure and then take off the strap.

 

Ghetto-tech

 

don't think I haven't thought about it!

How about do that. Then JB Weld the bolt into the hole. Let it cure and then take off the strap.

 

Ghetto-tech

 

I seriously think that would work! What's it going to do, leak?

Go even more ghetto - drive a block of 2x4 between the valve cover and the frame rail, cover with 3M windsheild goo - instant engine mount.

That's awsome subaru nuts.

By the way, you could get away with tapping it to the next thread size without drilling it out. Because the bolt acted as a drill when it removed all the threads. What is the bolt size? 6mm? Now it's perfect for a 7 or 8 mm. I'd say try tapping it first. If it fails go ghetto-fab on it.

...LONG LIVE THE USMB!

Right ON!!! The USMB is the most valuable source for subaru.

That's awsome subaru nuts.

By the way, you could get away with tapping it to the next thread size without drilling it out. Because the bolt acted as a drill when it removed all the threads. What is the bolt size? 6mm? Now it's perfect for a 7 or 8 mm. I'd say try tapping it first. If it fails go ghetto-fab on it.

 

Right ON!!! The USMB is the most valuable source for subaru.

 

there isn't enough room to get anything in there, it's the one that's tightest up against the framerail, I had to buy a ratchet wrench to get it off (well, a box wrench would've worked, but there's only enough room for about 1/8 turn...I'm just not patient enough) since I can have extra parts here in a couple weeks, I'll go ghetto, and fix it if I have to.

 

so I got some degreaser to clean it, some RTV, some JBWeld, and a ratchet strap, I'm gonna JBWeld the bolt into the hole, rtv the gasket, and use the strap to hold pressure on the whole thing while it dries...

 

my question is, do I have to drain the oil...AGAIN...to do this? I assume there's oil standing in around the cam, so I'll need to drain it, to keep it clean while stuff dries....I just changed it!

all the oil should be in the pan. but there will be some residual oil in the cam cases(like alot)

 

just wipe it out with a rag.

 

i got spare motors, with spare cam sases if you need one.

 

or heck, come get a whole motor, i got too many

all the oil should be in the pan. but there will be some residual oil in the cam cases(like alot)

 

just wipe it out with a rag.

 

i got spare motors, with spare cam sases if you need one.

 

or heck, come get a whole motor, i got too many

 

haha, I got a spare aswell, but it's in the Twin Cities, and I don't have a way to get it here (didn't have room last trip, don't want to drive my ghetto-repaired wagon that far...), so I need a better ghetto-repair.