Hey guys, I have a 1983 Camaro with a carbureted 350 engine. Upon cranking one day it made the nastiest of screeching noises and when I got under thinking it may be a bad flywheel, I noticed the long bolt connecting the starter to the block was hanging out and when I tried screwing it back in, it wouldnt screw in because the threading inside the block hole was stripped. You can even see a bit of the threading inside the grooves of the screw. I was wondering what would be the best fix? Helicoil? If so, how would I go about doing it since there is some good distance to pass inside the hole seeing as the threading that meets the screw is at the top of hole.

 

Buy a helicoil Kit and follow the directions.

 

 

How much material exists around the hole? Some of the castings had very little extra material there, and the holes were almost at the edge of the casting. If there is adequate material, a thread insert should be acceptable. If the material is broken out, your options are limited.

 

make sure your using the correct bolts. a lot of people don't realize theres a difference til they crack the block. theres a good pic and info in this link.
http://forums.superchevy.com/super-c...-starter-bolt/

 

Remove the starter so you have room to work and install the insert correctly.

The bolt is long to pass thru the body of the starter mounting pad.

 

Use a Time-Sert. They are far better than Heli-Coil and require less material removal and will work better in thin walled areas. Only down side is the install kit costs more but the inserts themselves are really cheap. I use them on any aluminum threaded hole with smaller threads that see lots of useage, header bolts, valve cover bolts. They are great for the bolt holes on the engine for the bellhousing also.

Is it possible that the starter bolts were cross threaded? If you are still using a regular hex head bolt instead of an allen head the starter bolts can be easy to cross thread...