i got a 99 honda cbr 600 f4, im riding the other day and i hear this crazy noise comeing from the motor pull over and i see my spark plug boot blew rite out of the head! took it apart and sure enough the plug ripped the threads rite out of the cyclinder, has anyone done a helicoil on a bike with out takeing the motor out to get the head off? if not does anyone have any tips or any information that i could use to do this as essay as possible? thanks

Not familiar with how the engine is designed on that bike but if your gonna do the helicoil on the bike, you have to ensure that no metal shavings enter the combustion chamber. The tap will need to be coated with thick oil to catch as much metal as possible. I did this once on a car and then took some rubber hose and sucked out anything that might have fell into the engine with a vacuum. The only sure way to do this w/o the worry of any shit getting in is to remove the engine and position it so the spark plug hole is down and nothing can get in. oviously, that will suck to do that but its your call.

yeah the best and safest way is to pull the engine out, dont really want to but dont have much of a choice, all because some idiot cross threaded the plug before i had the bike!

I had to put a helicoil in one of the head bolts on my Bandit when I had it. You're really best to pull the head, because you need to drill the hole out, then tap it, both of which make a lot of shavings that you do not want in your engine. You're in a very critical area, you'll want to do this one right.

you will have to at least pull the head off of it. you gonna need a gasket and possibly new head bolts if your old ones show any stretch in them. the head will need to be drilled and tapped to match the heli-coil and then the heli-coil end once you get it in and seated will have to be broken off and not protruding into the chamber. use anti-seize on the plug when re-installing it to prevent scalding the threads and make it easier to get the plug out later on. heli-coil is the band-aid...why not try to price a new or gently used head for it? heli-coil is made of a harder metal than the aluminum that your head is made out of. it may be possible for the heli-coil to work itself out when you remove the plug later and thus having to install new heli-coil and pull the head again. torque the head bolts hand tight, then half way down in a crossing pattern then 3/4 and then full torque. never over tighten a spark plug and check the gap upon installation. you can feel the collapsing washer crush as you tighten. you shouldnt go more than a 1/4 turn past that. just some friendly advice. it is also recommended after 100-200miles to recheck your torques on the head bolts.

x2

do you know where i can find a used head or a new one that is in a reasonable price range? i cant find any used ones so far. also everybike shop i call doesnt want to deal with it, so im pretty much stuck doing this project!

i put in cbr 600 head in ebay search and found 4 in there...vary in price. i don't know everything about your bike so you would need to ask questions like...will this fit my 99 f4 before you buy. a good honda mechanic can tell u that. seems like 175-225 is the price range. get a shop to check new price before you buy used. u can usually expect to pay about half for used. you may have to use your valve train...again check with seller about shape it is in and what comes with it. on line shops would like to have your business and bore and stroke it while its out.....super 600! creative here in the forum know anything about this kind of stuff?

we dont get deep in motor work here! never been one of our things to do , we do have mechanics that i can call and see if they want to do the job

yeah if you could find out if any mechanics could do the job that would be great for me, i really dont want to mess around with it i rather pay someone to do it and do it rite and be done with it. i live in westport rite near creative so i couyld swing by there one day if needed.

ya swing by im usually there in the afternoon we can find out what needs to be done exactly

I know its an old thread but if a heli-coil is done right its actually better than a band aid and there is no chance of it coming out unless someone torques the plugs to 100 ft-lb and even then it will prob stay in place if done right.... If its my own bike and a few years old I would rather heli-coil then find a used head, however if it was a newer bike I would possibly buy a new head. I usually dont take chances with used heads and if you have a shop do the work ofcourse you will get no warranty if you go with a used head.