Yup... not a problem, but rather an "opportunity for a solution"...
Heli-Coil it. I think they're 12-24. Not an easy size to find. Probably have to be ordered from McMaster-Carr or some such.
Do EVERY screw hole in the thing. If you take a screw out and it has white powder on it, then the hole is smoked. It's not a matter of "stripped", as such; rather, it's dissimilar-metal electrolysis. The plating on the screws "eats" the chinesium casting material over time. The more moisture there is wherever it's stored, the worse the problem is.
Expect the threads for the needle-valve seats to be stripped as well.
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Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
— William of Ockham, from Quaestiones et decisiones in quattuor libros Sententiarum Petri Lombardi
Roughly paraphrased into modern English, and applied to figuring out what's wrong with your car:
The simplest explanation that fits all the facts is probably the right one.
Last edited by sofakingdom; 03-14-2007 at 05:15 PM.
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