A Whole bunch of WTF...Main caps stripped.

[heywier427]

So, bought a used low mileage built SR20det engine. Impressive build sheet. Lots of good parts, and money spent. Like alot.

The engine developed an oil leak at the back of the upper oil pan.

Dropped the pan, cleaned it, re-sealed and it still leaked. Wtf.

Dropped the pan, cleaned it, stuck the pan up to the block with no sealer, and found that the pan would not mate up to the block at the back right hand corner.

Long story short, the engine builder did not put the 3 "shorter" arp bolts where they belonged, and the main cap/girdle bolts were hitting the pan, preventing it from tightening and sealing to the block.

I measured and found the 3 shorter bolts. Upon re-installation, one of the bolts stripped at less than 50 ft pounds (was torquing to 80 per arp spec). One went in fine.

So, my question is, do I have to send this f*cker out to be line honed if I use a time-sert on the one stripped main cap bolt?

The internet says when using a time-sert, you do not have to line hone. But if using a heli-coil, you do?

What say you, mighty Zilvians?

Do I just throw a brick through the "engine builders" window? He obviously stripped it (or got it stripped), and left it.

Thanks.

Edit: Main caps are stock, not billet.

20181109_180411[1] by thomas telesco, on Flickr

20181109_180417[1] by thomas telesco, on Flickr

20181109_182144[1] by thomas telesco, on Flickr