Hey g2ic I need some advice regarding repairing a bolt hole in my frame!
Short version: car was curbed hard on the front passenger wheel resulting in some bent suspension components including the subframe. I got all new parts in order for replacement, but when I went to bolt the new subframe up, one of bolts would only thread at an angle. Unfortunately, I tried to power through it and bolt it up anyway despite the resistance but quickly stopped when I realized that it wouldn’t work.
To fix this I dremeled out the hole before the recessed threads since there was a little offset damage resulting from the accident. Then I chased the threads with a 12mm x 1.25 tap. The result was an egg shaped bolt hole :(. Now I can thread a bolt through this hole, but it is very loose with a much smaller % thread engagement (I think that is the correct terminology).
My question: should I bolt it up anyway with one of the subframe bolts threading loosely inside of the hole OR should I purchase a new 12.7mm drill bit and 14mm x 1.25 tap and drill it out and order a 14mm subframe bolt from a gen3 integra?
In my humble opinion you answered your own question with the quoted statement. using mismatched bolt in an oblong hole is doing you no good… it is not secure, and can rattle out eventually forcing you to drill & tap for a larger bolt anyways.
Alternatively you couldgo crazy, ditch the subframe and install a traction bar… hehehehe
OK, now I just need to know what pitch the gen 3 integra subframe bolts are… I assumed 1.25, but it could be 1.5 and all of the oem part suppliers only list the diameter and length of there bolts, not the pitch like this: (90167-SR3-000 BOLT, FLANGE (14X120). Anyone know which pitch it is?
yea that I cannot tell you… worst case you can go to an autozone or o’reilly’s or maybe an ACE hardware… they all usually have those deals for meastring screws and determining pitch and thread… otherwise get to know a set of micrometer calipers…
you can determine what you are lookign for by taking measurements and doing a little math.
Unfortunately it has been ages since I was in Aviation and Propulsion school where I learned that stuff, so I cannot offer the exact formulas.
The problem is I don’t have a bolt from a gen3 yet, I was hoping to get started on the drill and tap so I could throw everything back together after that while waiting for the bolt in shipping. Thanks for the replies though man
Shit I’m pretty worried about redrilling/tapping to the larger 14mm size. I have no idea if there’s enough material in the frame rail to support doing this. And if I’m wrong that means I’d have to have a body shop remove part of the frame rail and weld in the piece from a donor. I really don’t want to have to do that! Still, when I tapped the thread with the 12mm tap, it removed a bunch of material and when the bolt is threaded it wobbles around including up and down inside the threads. I need to talk to a body repair guy…
Well… have someone fill the bolt hole with weld… Re-drill and tap to the correct OEM size? Otherwise you’ll have to heli-coil, or tap to the next bigger size… Not a ton of options here really.
Yeah I looked into helicoils and timeserts after you mentioned it here. I’m going to go with one of those, the timesert looks like a better permanent solution; however, I read that they require a little more material removed so that would be a disadvantage over the helicoil if that’s true. Also, the kit is more than twice as much $90 vs $40 for the helicoil one. So I’m leaning toward the helicoil kit since this and a bunch of other problems I’ve been fixing on the car have really added up.