Okay so my helicoil kit came today with tap + inserts.

I first made sure the piston wasn't too high in the cylinder that the tap would hit it. I greased up the tap, clipped it into the long extension, got it into the spark plug thread and screwed the tapered guide in by hand. I then attached a ratchet and as cobbs guide suggests, slowly tapped 3 rotations forward and 2 back which was a success. I then screwed my insert onto the spark plug, screwed in and it the good news is that I have a nice new strong thread to work with.

I could have left the spark plug there as it would have been flush but I wanted to get the job done properly. The insert I'm using has outward teeth at the top of the insert, on the outside and above the thread which are designed to be lined up flush and punched with a tool provided with the kit to expand the teeth into the block. Preventing the insert from exiting the thread when you take the spark plugs out in future.

When I first took the spark plug out to inspect, the insert came out with it. So I thought I'd have to screw it in nice and tight for it to stay put. I took the spark plug out again and noticed that the insert was too high and not flush so I put the spark plug back in to screw down again. I've then somehow managed to screw the insert too far down into the thread, so the thread on the spark plug won't catch it.

On the bright side, at least it hasn't fallen into the cylinder because that would be a serious pain. At the moment, I need to figure out how I'm going to grip that insert and raise it up the thread without that happening.

I would like to punch the insert in like it's designed for. But I also can't think for how I'm going to get the insert flush and free in order to do that.

Any suggestions gents ?

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