Are Heli Coils safe in a Flywheel???

the alum fly wheel that you would buy over the counter will have helicoils installed.

 

This is a factory steel flywheel. I just spoke with my machine shop and he said that if installed properly there should be no problem at all. I have also read several things on the internet as well and think that it should be fine. It's a 324 with a mild cam, not a race motor by any means.

If you see me at the next show with a parrot on my shoulder feel free to say I told you so!!! Thanks for all the great input!. Adam

 

Helicoils (properly installed) are generally accepted in most normal use cir***stances. If I own the car. If I were repairing the car for a customer I would discuss it with the owner,

 

Shouldn't have to balance anything unless your pressure plate is not neutral balanced, but I don't think I've seen any of those

 

You have a parrot????? COOOOOOOOOOOOL

 

Further, I've seen helicoils used in aluminum flywheels a lot.

 

I have tried this. DON'T........... I did it on a bone stock 350 and it self destructed. The enertia brought by it's spinning and it's vibration will inherently weaken the helicoil's bond. It only lasted about 100 miles before it exploded into pieces.

 

so many different opinions which one should you listen to....... i would run them

 

Im more worried about the parrot than your flywheel.

 

One more. I put one hell of a lot of Heli-Coils in aircraft parts. Often in brand new parts before they were installed since it was a given the aluminum would fail eventually. If you fly comerical your flying with Heli-Coils. I would put hhem in my flywheel anyday. I did put them in the crank flange on my Bonneville motor when I shwared the flywheel bolts once and bunged the threads beyound what I would use.

 

first off i would never trust a helicoil on anything that may fail, helicoils are the very bottom of the threaded insert ladder, time-sert would be a step up, http://www.timesert.com/, keyed inserts are the top, http://www.newmantools.com/key.htm, i just had a flywheel redrilled to exept another pressure plate, lots of new flywheels come with multi patterns.

 

Satan has a good point, why take the chance and alchemy has the right answer, rotate the damn thing, drill and tap a new set of holes. SFI wheels have multiple sets so that when you screw up the first set you just go to the next. Somebody else asked if the wheel was alum or steel or is it cast iron, those are good questions and i'm also wondering about cracks - get it magnafluxed, if it ain't all cracked up drill some new holes.

 

Olds 303 - 324 - 371- 394 Aluminum flywheel.
I would ***ume the steel version looks about the same.

Notice the amount of metal around the 6 pressure plate bolt holes ?

 

I must chime in with some logic, for those people that are set against using helicoil. Helicoil is certainly stronger than thread in bare aluminum and many aluminum flywheels come with threats cut into them with no thread inserts. So it's my opinion that being against helicoils is unwarranted. Period.

 

I have used them, and they work very well for specific applications.

Keyed inserts require drilling a larger hole, compared to a Helicoil.
Not always prectical.

In the case of a flywheel, it is a non-issue.

 

If it vibrated so bad that it self-destructed, I highly suspect you had issues WAY beyond what heli-coils might have contributed to.

It's been pointed out that this is a steel flywheel, so have the darn thing magnafluxed. If it's got cracks, use it as the base for a bench grinder. If it's not cracked, the helicoils have ZERO impact on the integrity of the flywheel. Can any one of you who are advocating the drilling of new holes point out why this would be a better solution than using the existing heli-coiled holes? And I mean a better solution, not some WAG you may have.

 

Just keep it under 120,000 rpm and I am sure it will be fine.

 

My thought ezaxtly. Get it magnafluxed and the balance checked and put er in. The coils are a no concern, the world runs on them. Cracks on the other hand are.

 

Me too, no sense clouding the discussion with facts and experience.


We will leave Chicken Little in charge.
Carry on.

 

First parrots, now chicken? This thread has gone to the birds

 

ok ,,,ONE last time,,since most folks never read the first post i think.

#1 ......IT is STEEL..not aluminum so can we get beyond that pleas.

#2 yes coils done right have there place and are fine

MY point is ,,EVERY hole was redone,,so JUST based on that,,I'd like to know what hell this thing went though that warranted ALL of them being redone.. side note

(if it is the one in the ebay link,,thats just sandblasted and still needs to be resurfaced and looks quite pitted )\

so in closing ( hopefully ) lets say heli Coiled .........FINE ,,whatever

but ( and as he said he's done) none of us can say "YEAH" use it as it's not in front of us.., and we have NO IDEA what its true condition is.. Perhaps there is other damage that goes along with those wasted holes

OR ( and again if this is the ebay wheel ) looks like maybe this thing laid out in the dirt so long the holes were rotted and thats why it was coiled,,though seems to be the cost of coiling ? why then would you do all that work and get rid of it ??

anyways a Pro is handling it now so we can all rest easy

 

Have it checked for cracks if it's good run it, I've used helicoils on the cylinder head bolt holes in engine blocks alot, the helicoils often hold better than the cast iron some blocks are made from if they are done properly, and some of the blocks I helicoiled the bolts were torqued to 150 ft lbs on a 1/2" head bolt! Never had any of them come back because a failed helicoil.

 

That's what I was thinking...

There are quite a few of us on here that are pros. But I guess you kinda overlooked that.

 

If all six holes were heli-coiled, it almost makes you wonder if some engine builder discovered that Heli-coils worked better somehow. I can see one or two being repaired due to screwed up threads or something, but for all six to be heli-coiled, it's like somebody did it on purpose for some reason. Like maybe the heli-coils hold up better to being constantly dis***embled over and over for some sort of drag racing or something where they might need to tear the whole engine apart after every race or something. The wire in a helicoil is definitely harder steel than cast iron.

Who knows though. Maybe some goofball tried to run co**** thread bolts into each hole with an air wrench and screwed up all six holes, and that's why they all needed repairing.

 

I like the way you think!!!!

I would run them in a heartbeat, as they seem to hold up to the heat/cool cycling with no problem , on all the Jet Engine gearboxes down in our engine shop! (commercial airline).

 

Were I work they use them in gas turbines (jet engines)!

 

well when your THAT good that you can tell the condition of something with out even seeing it,,then I guess you move from Pro ,,to God..

 

Holy balls! I post pics of my work on my cars and I get 6 or 7 comments, post this and here comes the **** storm. I love it!

 

personal experence...put a round track motor in a 55 chevy...helicoild 1[one] pressure plate bolt...it came apart and destroyed the bell housing...threw bolts up in the dash, through the door, and cut my headers in half, this immediately dropped the ****** on the pavement...not a good scene ...maybe with a little less horse power but I'll not try it again...Street Car not on the track...

 

He asked if it was ok to run them. Not about the condition of the rest of the flywheel. Maybe you should run down to the WaWa and buy a clue, you obviously have none.... Get over it already...

and To many,helping my brother with old car parts ( not for much longer I hate cars ) WTF? if you hate cars don't let the door hit ya...

Again, I would look for more. If it was one bolt helicoiled and it threw bolts (plural) you definitely had something else going on.