Stripped spark plug socket.....

[DrJuice164]

So today was tons of fun. My KA blew a spark plug out on the way to work, good stuff; luckily I was very close to a parts shop. Bought a new plug, and put it in, threads on the head were shot so I could only get it so tight. SO, my idea for a fix was to heli-coil it. Went out and bought this http://www.derek.com.au/fixathreadplugsaver.jpg

Great right, wrong, only tap I have ever seen that has a hex head on it, and the socket will not fit into the head. SO my question is, will a normal tap work in this situation? I understand the tap in the kit was larger than 14x1.25 as it has to compensate for the thickness of the heli-coil, but a set of calipers should fix that yes?
Modified by DrJuice164 at 9:24 PM 4/29/2009

[DanThaMan]

all of my shop's head repair taps are either hex head or have a 3/8 drive on them. But yeah a regular tap will work, just make sure its the same size and pitch. also remember to go in and come back out often when you are tapping it to keep as much of the old thread out of the combustion chamber. Then crank it a bit with the plug out to blow all the shavings out.

[DrJuice164]

Thanks for the conformation. I was going to use grease on the tap and also some type of probing device I have yet to find and cover it with grease on it to pull any shavings that fall on the cylinder.

[DanThaMan]

Forgot, you will need to drill the hole out a bit in order for a regular tap to work. Those repair kit taps will do this for you. regular taps will not do this for you.

[CSLAVE]

also remember to go in and come back out often when you are tapping it

hehe

[S13xCrazy]

are the threads completely gone down in there?

I was put in a bad situation once and I thought for sure i was going to have to helicoil the spark plug hole...which i DID NOT look forward to.

However, i went down to my local auto parts store, and they had a "Thread Chaser"

Ran it down in there, and it saved the threads!PERFECT erry time!

I did use a little grease on it, and then vacuumed it out

[DrJuice164]

Forgot, you will need to drill the hole out a bit in order for a regular tap to work. Those repair kit taps will do this for you. regular taps will not do this for you.

Now let me ask you this, how is the tap from the kit different from a regular tap.

The threads are not completely toast as I was able to put a plug in and drive 45 minutes home from work, but there was a good amount of compression leaking past it. It was enough to blow the plug wire off'
Modified by DrJuice164 at 12:47 AM 4/30/2009