Quote Originally Posted by DennyW View Post
I'm sorry guys, but when I work with aluminum, and some things like areas that usually go bad normally, I always prepare it for the worse situation. Anything aluminum, it gets helicoils. It's a pay me now, or pay me later kind of thing. There are several different helicoils, for any type, or any part of an application. At different strengths. Hell, the Military uses them all the time. If you want a thread to stay where it is supposed to be, a helicoil will keep it there far longer. If the aluminum has a rolled thread, you have a better chance of keeping the thread, but, corrosion will catch up to you. And if changing the thread size from 3/8" to 7/16", why not just go ahead and get all the help you can right then ? And always use sealers, and anti-seize where they are needed. Any way, that is my thinking, and has never let me down.
While I understand your position completely, I would have a hard time drilling out the threads on a brand new head and installing helicoils. In the event that you have any problem with the head you've given the manufacturer an out by modifying it before it's even proven. Using your logic would entail drilling out and helicoiling the spark plug holes, too, as they are just a failure waiting to happen, but look at the number of heads out there that are doing just fine provided anti-seize is used on the plugs. In a racing application I could see going the helicoil route more than for the street, but for a street application I'm with Jerry - save the helicoils for repairs later, especially on a rocker stud that will very likely never be removed once it's installed. Just my $0.02.