I searched on here concerning the timing chain cover (or front cover) and while there were some issue I couldn't find anything on making repairs so I thought I'd share this with you. While installing mine I stripped out 2 of the small 1/4-20 holes, which seems to be pretty common, and figured I'd need a new cover. Anyhow, a friend of mine suggested the following: Grind the back side down flush, drill the holes out to 1/4, insert a short bolt with a nut on the back side, tighten, then braze the nut to the cover, remove the bolt and there ya go. I haven't installed the cover yet but it appears to have worked like a champ. I went ahead and did all 4 of the holes on mine just so I wouldn't have this issue again. Just thought some of you might like to know.

 

Yup, that works. Another method is to use a hammer and punch to swage the upset metal on the backside, making the hole smaller. Those are self-tapping screws, so they should recut the threads.

Of course, since they ARE self-tapping screws, one needs to carefully torque them at water pump installation time!

 

Speaking of torque I need a bit of clarification. According to my assembly manual it is 35 ft/lbs for the front cover to block bolts and 13 ft/lbs for the water pump to front cover bolts. Are the water pump bolts which go through the front cover into the block considered front cover to block or water pump to front cover bolts?

 

Just found it...answered my own question. They're actually 25 ft/lbs. Is in one of the figures rather than the torque spec listing.