jcobz28 Posted February 17, 2007 Report Share Posted February 17, 2007 I'm a DIY-er, and I am timeserting my block right now. First time doing it. The kit's instructions are not clear to me. I already drilled out the hole, that went great. Cleaned it out, it's dry and clean and ready to tap. Do I tap the hole by hand using a T-shaped tap driver? If so, one is not included in the kit, and I need to go buy one. The kit seems fairly complete otherwise, so that leaves me thinking that maybe I am supposed to put the tap into my drill, and tap it using my power drill. But I am not 100% positive this is the way it supposed to be done and don't want to mess up my repair on the first hole! Can I put the tap in the drill? Tap it using a slow controlled speed? Or does it have to be done using a hand driver? Same question for the thread-insert installation tool. I am going to go play some Nintendo Wii until I get an answer. Please don't respond unless you are 100% sure of your answer. Hopefully, you have done this yourself before. THANK YOU!! -Jacob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted February 17, 2007 Report Share Posted February 17, 2007 Jacob, we have a lot of members that have done this job. The most recent to do the job are BigCat83 and KHE.. They may not visit this site and see this thread in time. If I were you I would put your job on hold and send them PMs and Emails and ask them your question. Good Luck and post your progress and photos, Mike Hopefully a member that has done this job will chime in shortly Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimD Posted February 17, 2007 Report Share Posted February 17, 2007 Do not use the drill on the tap!!! Use a tee handle. If you have never tapped a hole before, find some scrap aluminum or buy some 1 inch square aluminum material and practice tapping at least a dozen or more holes. Practice, practice, practice. The technique is to turn the tap approximately 1/4 turn, then back out 1/4 turn to remove the metal chips. That is why it takes so long to tap a hole properly. Jim Drive your car. Use your cell phone. CHOOSE ONE ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted February 17, 2007 Report Share Posted February 17, 2007 Jim, I have used TAP OIL in the past is it ok to use it here? Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Nunnally Posted February 17, 2007 Report Share Posted February 17, 2007 there is a nice video on the timesert site here: http://www.timesert.com/video/Headbolt01.wmv Bruce 2023 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing Follow me on: Twitter Instagram Youtube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigCat83 Posted February 17, 2007 Report Share Posted February 17, 2007 Buy a tap handle and TAP THE HOLES BY HAND!!!!!!!!!!!! Put the drill away until it's time to drill out the next hole. Tap the hole slowly and carefully!!! Drill and tap and install the insert to COMPLETION ONE HOLE AT A TIME. Do NOT move that location plate until that repair is 100% complete. Take your time, be carefull, let the tools do the work. I'll walk you through it if you want. Installing Timeserts is not difficult only painstaking. Good Luck!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcobz28 Posted February 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2007 Thank you guys! That's what I needed to know. Will go buy a T-handle for the tap right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadillac Jim Posted February 17, 2007 Report Share Posted February 17, 2007 Now that the responsible parties have had their say and ensured that the repair will go well, I will now say that the original post, with the photo of you, the Cadillac owner, towering over a Timesert location plate wielding a high power drill and grinning enthusiastically... I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Thank you, and congratulations on your good humor in a difficult and demanding situation. Take your time with the repair. You are in the best of hands here. -- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data -- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted February 18, 2007 Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 Do not use the drill on the tap!!! Use a tee handle. If you have never tapped a hole before, find some scrap aluminum or buy some 1 inch square aluminum material and practice tapping at least a dozen or more holes. Practice, practice, practice. The technique is to turn the tap approximately 1/4 turn, then back out 1/4 turn to remove the metal chips. That is why it takes so long to tap a hole properly. Jim, You know its funny, after you posted this, I thought to myself, yes thats true, I KNEW THAT, I once drilled and tapped 400 holes to hold down track for a computerized plasma burning machine when I worked at Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock... , The problem with me is that because I have not done a time-sert job, I will NOT give any advice at all, and wholely defer to those who have done the job....that is why I suggested contacting BigCat83 and KHE directly... I have been sitting here wondering why I do that... and I think its because I wholely defer to direct experience given the seriousness of this repair... I WILL NOT LEAVE MY WINGMAN! Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimD Posted February 18, 2007 Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 Drilling and tapping is the same procedure no matter where you do it; OK, it might be a little different on the International Space Station. Practice makes for a good result. And tapping blind holes is a little more picky than tapping a through hole. But a Northstar block is not the place to practice. Common sense and gravity cannot be denied. Jim Drive your car. Use your cell phone. CHOOSE ONE ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted February 18, 2007 Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 Drilling and tapping is the same procedure no matter where you do it; OK, it might be a little different on the International Space Station. Practice makes for a good result. And tapping blind holes is a little more picky than tapping a through hole. But a Northstar block is not the place to practice. Common sense and gravity cannot be denied. Your advice to practice was a good one.... Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted February 18, 2007 Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 Drilling and tapping is the same procedure no matter where you do it; OK, it might be a little different on the International Space Station. Practice makes for a good result. And tapping blind holes is a little more picky than tapping a through hole. But a Northstar block is not the place to practice. Common sense and gravity cannot be denied. One should be really careful when drilling on the International Space Station. Otherwise one will not have a chance to tap. The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimD Posted February 18, 2007 Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 Exactly. Jim Drive your car. Use your cell phone. CHOOSE ONE ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeb Posted February 18, 2007 Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 how did you get the motor out? drop the cradle? I am waiting for bigcat to post some more pics of his job. I am nursing my car along till warmer weather till i do my HG's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigCat83 Posted February 19, 2007 Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 how did you get the motor out? drop the cradle? I am waiting for bigcat to post some more pics of his job. I am nursing my car along till warmer weather till i do my HG's. I tried nursing my car along too. Didn't work. The best advice I can give is to make the repair now. This is what I did: When all was disconnected (use the procedure in the FSM for removing the engine as a checklist) I lowered the front of my car on 4 jack stands placed at the four corners of the cradle, removed the six bolts holding the cradle to the body, used my engine hoist with a leveler to lift the body off the cradle and then spent countless hours sitting on top of my motor doing the work. I don't have room in my garage to pull the cradle out from under the car, lifting the body as I did gave me plenty of room in the engine bay to work. Pulling the heads off and re-installing them is a two man job. I'm just now going through some digital pics I took (my Canon A70 crapped out in the beginning of this and was sent out for repair) and plan on posting them on the site soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted February 19, 2007 Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 I got here late as I was up in Northern Wisconsin in a last ditch attempt to get some snowmobiling in this season. I cringed when I saw that drill in your hand and that devilish grin on your face when talking about tapping. NEVER tap a hole with a drill. All you will do is ream out the hole to a larger size. I strongly recommend you follow JimD's advice and practice on a scrap block of aluminum to get the feel of it before doing it on your engine. WD40 is a supposed to be a good aluminum taping lube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigCat83 Posted February 19, 2007 Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 WD40 is what's recommended in the Timesert Tool Kit instructions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcobz28 Posted February 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 I got here late as I was up in Northern Wisconsin in a last ditch attempt to get some snowmobiling in this season. I cringed when I saw that drill in your hand and that devilish grin on your face when talking about tapping. NEVER tap a hole with a drill. All you will do is ream out the hole to a larger size. I strongly recommend you follow JimD's advice and practice on a scrap block of aluminum to get the feel of it before doing it on your engine. WD40 is a supposed to be a good aluminum taping lube. I agree. In the past, I have always tapped holes by hand using a T-handle. My confusion came from the fact that there was no T-handle driver in the timesert kit, and it is otherwise totally complete. The only T-handle driver I own did not open up large enough to accomodate the timesert tap. Since the timesert instructions made no mention of using a T-handle driver by hand for the tap, that left me wondering if I was supposed to put it in the drill. This seemed odd to me, so I got on the internet and found the timesert website. Then I found this video on THEIR website: http://www.timesert.com/video/StandardRepair.avi And that REALLY threw me off! They are showing a hole being tapped using a drill. But still, my intuition said something seemed wrong. As you mentioned, it seemed like it would just ream out the hole larger. And obviously, that would ruin the block, or require installation of a 2nd repair "BIG-sert" kit (i.e. more money and time on my part... ). So, to be cautious, I decided to wait and ask people on here what they have done. I'm glad I waited. I wonder why timesert has that video on their site. Is it that it CAN be done with a drill? But just not recommended? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted February 19, 2007 Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 I don't know if it is possible, but I would never try to tap a hole with a drill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted February 19, 2007 Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 Buy or borrow a T-handle - you do not want to use a drill to drive the tap or you will either break the tap in the hole when the tap bottoms out or you will damage the threads you are cutting in the block. The Timesert instructions state to use WD-40 so that's what I used even though I had aluminum thread cutting oil on the shelf. Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkz71 Posted February 19, 2007 Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 He's right, I just watched the time-sert video, they do tap the hole with an electric drill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted February 19, 2007 Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 Buy or borrow a T-handle - you do not want to use a drill to drive the tap or you will either break the tap in the hole when the tap bottoms out or you will damage the threads you are cutting in the block. The Timesert instructions state to use WD-40 so that's what I used even though I had aluminum thread cutting oil on the shelf. Is there a starter tap or only one tap, in the ship yard we used a starter tap (the threads on the tap were gradual), then a full tap (full threads), and there was a bottoming tap... Does one tap do the job here? Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkz71 Posted February 19, 2007 Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 They only show one tap in the time-sert video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcobz28 Posted February 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 Yes, it is just one tap. I had a hard time finding a tap wrench to hold a tap this big. I tried Menards, PepBoys, HomeDepot, and Lowes. None of them had one big enough. They just had the standard T-handle taps drivers which don't hold anything bigger than a 1/2" tap. The timesert tap is slightly bigger. I finally found a large enough tap wrench at Sears hardware. $21 for it... While the T-handles are only $6.00 !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigCat83 Posted February 19, 2007 Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 One tap does the job. Use Wd-40 and occasionally a 10mm combo wrench to turn the tap may work better that a tap handle. DON"T USE ANY POWER TOOLS TO TURN THE TAP OR THE INSERT INSTALL TOOL! You really need to "feel" how that tap and the install tool are turning, so use hand tools only! Remember: It only takes ONE SCREWED UP INSERT to ruin your block, so proceed slowly and carefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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