Intercooler threaded inserts

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

Dropped the intercooler off at a shop to have it cleaned, pressure-tested, epoxied, and pressure-tested again. As far as that part of things goes, they did an excellent job.

However, the threaded inserts in the tanks that the fan and A/C condenser attach to have disappeared in the process. All of them are gone, which means that the fan and condenser are basically floating in place right now.

Given the age of the tanks, I would really prefer to keep any potential drilling / modification to an absolute minimum.

Does anyone have a recommendation for where to obtain replacement inserts, and what type are needed? I imagine they'd beasically be really small helicoils.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Wed Jul 29, 2020 1:50 pm

How about a threaded rivet kit, would that work? :idea:

I have a similar old DRI Workshop threaded rivet/insert kit that I have used over the years to install threaded rivets in blind holes and it works fantastic.
You can get the rivets in all sizes in SAE and Metric. Amazon and eBay has plenty of them listed. Harbor Freight also sells a kit. :wink:

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

WWDiesel wrote:

:idea: How about a threaded rivet kit, would that work? :idea:

I have a similar old DRI Workshop threaded rivet/insert kit that I have used over the years to install threaded rivets in blind holes and it works fantastic.
You can get the rivets in all sizes in SAE and Metric. Amazon and eBay has plenty of them listed. Harbor Freight also sells a kit. :wink:

Bullseye! Thanks for that, scouring the usual places now :SOMBRERO:

03black · **Posted:** Wed Jul 29, 2020 3:22 pm

When I took out my intercooler, i noticed that some of the fasteners were missing. The fasteners on mine were metric square nuts. I believe the size was M6 1.25 thread pitch or 1.0...can't remember. Just went to the local hardware store and found them. I could have replace with standard size square nuts but didn't want to change all the bolts too. I just slide the nuts in the space provided.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Wed Jul 29, 2020 3:25 pm

Hint: Just go real easy working with plastic, don't squeeze the rivet nut to hard or it might crack the plastic. :wink:

It expands sort of like a pop rivet to hold it in place...

Mountainman · **Posted:** Wed Jul 29, 2020 5:30 pm

Yup, These square nuts are always falling out and disappearing.

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

Thanks, everyone - I didn't realise that square nuts were used instead of threaded inserts. Looks like I'll be chasing those down this weekend.

The joys of finding these things out eight-tenths of the way through reassembly... :mrgreen:

turblediesel · **Posted:** Thu Jul 30, 2020 12:08 pm

I used a bit of silicon gasket goop to keep the square nuts in place. Hex nuts work for the ones that flew away; just need to hold a little screwdriver to the side of the nut when you tighten it.

Intercooler threaded inserts

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