Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I used this to repair a spark plug hole on my 1980 Suzuki GS850 Motorcycle. The previous owner had cross-threaded a plug, and after running the bike particularly hard one night the 30 year old soft aluminum finally gave way. What was left of the threads disintegrated and I was left with a plug dangling from the ignition cable and a thread-less hole.
The kit came with 3 different sized inserts, the tap itself and the expanding tool. The idea is to cut new threads with the tap, screw the insert into the head, and then screw the plug into the insert. Once inserted, you'll use the expander to help seat the insert by hitting it with a hammer. If you are performing this fix without removing the head from the vehicle, you may not have enough room to use the expander effectively. If so, I highly suggest using Loctite RED on the OUTSIDE threads of the insert (in addition to using the expander where possible), AND using anti-seize on the INSIDE threads of the insert to help keep the plug from fusing to the insert.
You will also want to make sure you pick the insert that covers as much of the plug's threads as possible, so that you don't get carbon buildup on the plug's threads which might make unscrewing the plug from the insert difficult.
The tap is machined from a solid hunk of steel, and made short work of the Suzuki aluminum. It was easy to start the tap with just firm pressure while turning the tap clockwise with a ratchet. Being that I was pressed for time, I did not remove the head, and instead coated the tap with wheel bearing grease to catch the freshly cut particles. With deep, wide cutting channels, the bit seems to have been designed with this in mind. I had no problem catching the particles with the greased tap, and after cutting a bit further into the head, I would just back the tap out, clean, re-grease, and repeat the process.
After approximately 20 minutes of work the new oversize hole was complete. Since I left the head on the motorcycle, using the expander was almost impossible. A test fit with the insert threaded onto the spark plug showed that I was ready for the final assembly. I applied anti-seize to the plug, and then threaded it completely into the insert. I then added Loctite RED to the outside of the insert, and threaded the parts into the head. After snugging everything down and letting the Loctite set up overnight, the bike fired right up the following morning. With no leaks from the repair site, this was a successful repair that saved me the time of pulling the head, and the potential cost of replacing the head.
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