Spark plug / head problem.

[4PASNU]

As some of you may remember, my brother has my car up in Washington State right now while I'm down here in California.  Well, here is the deal.  He went to change the spark plugs the other day and the front 3 went smooth but when he went to do the back 3 he ran into a huge snag in that it wouldn't come out.  I guess he and a buddy worked on it for about an hour and they were finally able to get it out using a rather large breaker bar.   He said it looked like the plug had been cross threaded when installed.  The first few threads on the plug were really chewed up and there were parts of thread from the block stuck on the plug.  So now I'm in a situation.  What is the best course of action here?  Do you try to repair the threads with a tap?  Do you get a new (used) head?  Do you let a machine shop try to repair the head?  Any and all inputs are welcome and that really goes for anyone who has gone through this before.  Does anyone have a spare set of heads sitting around that they might want to sell?  Or know a wrecking yard in their area that might have a decent set of heads on a wrecked TGP?  Thanks.

Mike

[TGPilot]

Pull the heads and have Heli-coils installed... 8)

[maximage]

They are aluminum heads, so they were probably not cross threaded when they went in. What probably happened is that as hard as they are to change, they were never taken out, and corroded into the head. When he applied the large breaker bar, the threads were detroyed as a result. He should have used penetrating oil and woked at it.


On the side of fixing it, I would get another head and have the fromnt head and the new head gone over by a machine shop. You will have them off, and taking the front head off will only be a matter of taking it's heda bolts out. Might as well have them checked and redone while they are off. Heli-coil is ok, but I would NEVER use it on the sprak plug holes on a boosted engine.

[4PASNU]

He should have used penetrating oil and worked at it.

That's exactly what I thought.  I wish he would have given me a call.  Damage is done now.

Heli-coil is ok, but I would NEVER use it on the spark plug holes on a boosted engine.

I agree.  That will be an absolute last resort and it would only be a temp thing if I did do it.  

Right now I have an email out to Jeff M because I was told he might be able to assist with my situation so for now I'm patiently waiting on a reply.  In the mean time I've been doing research on the other cars that use the same heads and it looks like if you found a decent wrecking yard the chances of finding a set of heads is fairly good.  The thing working against me right now is money.  I don't have the cash to pay someone to machine a set of heads and have them installed.  It's looking more and more like the car is going to end up sitting until I get back up to Washington and can do the work myself.