Best fix for stripped sump bolt hole.

[avisionit]

I just thought I would add this for people that go through the same agony as I did over the last few months. I don't know how to put up a tutorial in the other section otherwise I would with pictures.

I have an AU3 XR8 but this would work on any sump pan. 8 months ago, my sump pan plug hole stripped. So, first you need to know, I don't know how to weld, even though I own a welder, I don't have any friends that are ever willing to help out. I don't know anyone with a hoist. I REALLY didn't want to have to take the motor out.

First thing, I went out and bought an oversized bolt. After batteling with it for over 2 hours, all it did was made the thread worse.
Second.. I did a lot of searching and YouTubing and found somthing called a Hellicoil. I was over the moon thinking this will solve the problem. After spending 100 bucks on a helicoil kit, I drilled the hole on the sump pan out and tapped a new thread. At the time of doing this, I started thinking to myself, there is really only 3 to 5 mm or steel on this pan. I began to wonder whether this would work.
So I loaded up the helicoil with heaps of the strongest Threadlock. I screwed it in and let it sit over night.
Next day seemed great. I put a new bolt on and was able to get it tight enough for it not to leak. This was 3 months ago and I thought my oil leak problems were a thing of the past.

The other day, I went into the garage, my car had not been driven for 3 weeks. I noticed a pool of oil seeping from under the car. After getting down and looking, sure enough, it was the bolt again.. I was beside myself. So I came the conclusion I either had to buy a new pan and take the motor out and put that on, I really dreaded that, OR find someone that would weld or bronze a nut to the out side. Yeah well I know noone that would do that.

So I keeped looking and thinking and one night watching youtube, I came accross this thing called a RivNut? I was not sure whether this existed here in Australia or whether it was not real. I am 58 and I thought how come I have never heard of this? How come when I put out and asked the questions on the forum for a fix to my stripped pan problem noone else had ever mentioned it.

So I thought maybe it isn't known very well. For those that don't know, Basically it is a tool you need to get and some special nuts for it. It is basically a pop riviter that rivits NUTS. Perfect I thought. I dont need to take out the engine just have to work under the car on stands. These tools and the nuts come in various sizes and can be purchased for around 100 bucks on Ebay BUT a word of caution. I bought a proper one at Total tools for $250.00 It is really had to compress and there is just enough clearance under the car on stands to use this tool. I barely had the strength. On a hoist would be a different ball game and if you can get to do it on a hoist that is DEFINATELY the way to go. Anyway, I drilled the hold out for the larger Rivnut M12, took a 15mm Hole. I also Bought Some JB Weld for added peice of mind. After drilling out the hole and letting a couple of litres of oil run through the motor over night to get any little bits of metal that might of come off during the drilling, I set out to install it. Yes I used grease on the Drill bit too, but wanted to make sure... I loaded it with JB Weld crawled under the car and with all my stregnth put it in.

So HOPFULLY I am not being premature here, and saying it seems all good. I hope in 3 mths I can say the same. I am confident and this Rivnut makes sense and if installed ok, it sould be fine.

I belive the reason the Helicoil failed was 1. there is not enough steel for it to lock onto. 2. the Threadtight, overtime was weakend by the oil and started leaking again.

I hope it lasts and for those that are in the same boat, give it a go. Search Youtube to see what it is. I think it is also called a Nutsert.

Good luck. PHOTOS..... https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...3a?usp=sharing