+1 on the Heli-Coil.Must be a trend here. I have had poor luck with self tappers over the years. IMHO the Heli-Coil or similar thread insert is the way to go. It gives you a SS thread and is stronger than original and it can be done in place.
By "poor luck" do you mean that you had trouble installing them and had to abandon the effort or do you mean that the install went fine but the plug eventually came out and dumped hot oil all over your rear tire at 70 mph?
The problem I have had is the self tapper does a pretty good job of making a piss poor thread and when you remove it whats left of the threads comes with it leaving an even larger hole. If you Heli-Coil the hole you end up with standard threads made out of stainless. I think the thread is 14x1.25mm.By "poor luck" do you mean that you had trouble installing them and had to abandon the effort or do you mean that the install went fine but the plug eventually came out and dumped hot oil all over your rear tire at 70 mph?
Ray,The problem I have had is the self tapper does a pretty good job of making a piss poor thread and when you remove it whats left of the threads comes with it leaving an even larger hole. If you Heli-Coil the hole you end up with standard threads made out of stainless. I think the thread is 14x1.25mm.By "poor luck" do you mean that you had trouble installing them and had to abandon the effort or do you mean that the install went fine but the plug eventually came out and dumped hot oil all over your rear tire at 70 mph?
Thats it. just follow the directions and you will be suprised how easy it is.Ray,The problem I have had is the self tapper does a pretty good job of making a piss poor thread and when you remove it whats left of the threads comes with it leaving an even larger hole. If you Heli-Coil the hole you end up with standard threads made out of stainless. I think the thread is 14x1.25mm.By "poor luck" do you mean that you had trouble installing them and had to abandon the effort or do you mean that the install went fine but the plug eventually came out and dumped hot oil all over your rear tire at 70 mph?
Is this the right Heli for the job? It's 14x1.25 but says it's for spark plugs. The local auto supply has them:
https://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/HEL-5334-14.html
I attempted a Perma-coil (like a heli coil) but the insert would't stay in when removing the drain plug. It seemed like the oil pan material was too soft to allow the insert to lock into it. So, I bit the bullit and bought all the parts to replace the pan from Ron Ayers. It's a time consuming job especially if you've never taken everyting apart before, but not very difficult. Having a service manual helps. I removed all the bodywork, drained the coolant and removed the exhaust last weekend. I should be able to drop and replace the pan and put everything back together this weekend.
Along these same lines, I have not had good luck with Heli-coils when there are few threads to 'lock' the coil in. As I did not check for this, nor had any reason to, at my last oil change, I would imagine that there are not very many threads in the reatively thin material of the oil pan drain. The only applications I have used them for were for repairs similar in no. of threads as, say a spark plug--something with some 'meat' to acccept Heli-coil. .02
