Uh-oh - seat mounts stripped! HELP!

I was putting my racing seat in today and noted that the front threads for the welded nut inside the frame are stripped - it's not the bolts, as I switched them and the back bolts go in quite well, just the fronts, and BOTH of them! CRAP!~ What can be done about this? I don't see how new bolt heads can be welded to the inside of the frame, so will I have to re-tap them and use larger bolts or what?

Oh man, you are screwed! You car is worth about $1,500 to $2,000 now. But to help a fellow Rennlister out, I will give you $2,500 CASH, sight unseen, for your car. Seriously, I am sorry, but I can't help you with this issue. Hopefully, a few others will offer some solutions for you. Good luck with the fix!

Can't you tap out the stripped nut and buy the next size up bolt? Stripped threads shouldn't be that bad of a deal in a seat mount....or is it too difficult to get in there? Tim: You're such a stalwart guy offering above value to a downtrodden Rennlister like that..

Chuck - I am just trying to give him an alternate solution to resolving his problem, even if I have to "overpay" to help him out. That's just the kind of guy I am!

just dab a little red loctite and your good to go

Heli-Coil

First, I suggest try re-tapping with same size thread to see if that cleans up any burrs and use some loctite blue, not red if you want to get seats in and out again. Next step, helicoil, last resort go to bigger diameter.

Helicoil is a temporary emergency fix, IMO. I would go with what Macho suggested. Try re-tapping to see if most of the usuable thread is left. If not, then drill out the old thread and go with a larger bolt. Just make sure the bigger bolt is graded the same. Grade 8??? I would also run a die through the other 3 seat bolts to clean them up also. GL

To the last 2 posters with deepest respect.... 1) Retapping a stripped thread does nothing. You can't put metal in a thread by retapping it. In the not-so-slight chance that you cut a second thread into the crest of the original thread, you may get the impression that you have solved the problem but there would be a serious deficiency of metal to support the load. 2) Loctite is for antivibration purposes. It is not meant to support a load.It will not support a bolt load. Red, blue, polka-dot or other. 3) Helicoils are engineered as a permanent fix. Why would you tag them as "temporary emergency"? The strength of a helicoiled joint is generally higher than the original joint. This because of the increased diameter of the thread in the parent nut material which is almost always the weak link in the system. The helicoil itself is much stronger than the parent nut material. 4) "Bigger is better" is usually a falacy when it comes to threaded fasteners. The only contrary is when the original joint was underengineered. A bolt is a spring. It uses this characteristic to do its job. Replacing a bolt with a larger diameter means that to have the same stretch on the fastener, it must be torqued to a higher tension. This puts a higher load on the nut, which is the original problem. If it was my car, my problem, I'd install Helocoils. Because of the short engagement (and frequent fastening/unfastening) I would Loctite them, so they are not run in or out with seat changes. Use Loctite sparingly as it needs absence of air to dry and there may be too much air in a Helicoil joint. Let it dry thoroughly (a day or 2) before installing bolts. The one thing I do agree on is to perform the repair to all the joints.

Many people now prefer time serts over helicoils. They seem to resist backing out better than the helicoils. http://www.timesert.com/

Solid inserts? Even better. As long as there's room for them. They are going to be slightly bigger diameter than a coil but if they fit, go for it.

As long as the old threads are not damaged too badly, I stand by my opinion that they can be cleaned-up by carefully re-tapping. If the existing threads are completely trashed, then I agree with you.

Macho, If threads have been removed by stripping (which is what the original poster said happened), how do you propose to clean them up? It is a ridiculous statement. Exactly how can they be "not damaged too badly" if they are stripped?

He says he removed bolts to swap seats and couldn't get the bolt back in. If he only cross-threaded at the top during re-installation, the rest of the thread might be clean. And BTW, there's no need for the "ridiculous statement" editorial BS. I'm not looking to enter into a pissing match, just trying to be helpful and save the guy some effort.

Sorry, I misread the post as: "I was putting my racing seat in today and noted that the front threads for the welded nut inside the frame are stripped - it's not the bolts, as I switched them and the back bolts go in quite well, just the fronts, and BOTH of them! CRAP!~ What can be done about this? I don't see how new bolt heads can be welded to the inside of the frame, so will I have to re-tap them and use larger bolts or what?" I never saw the part about "couldn't get the bolt back in" because it's not in the post. Maybe the part about "ridiculous" wasn't called for. Can you live with "irresponsible"? Advising someone to repair a damaged fastener that secures a seat with Loctite is this at very least.

Since when are helicoils temporary? As far as I can tell helicoils works better than even the original tap. The mechanics I know use them on everything and I just asked one and he said he's never had one come out. I know the one I had to do on the hole for a fuel injector hold down bolt it's done fine now after 50,000 miles. They're good enough for Boeing and NASA, then they're good enough for me.

Mr. Donovan, you're absolutely right, I may have mis-interpreted the situation. And I never meant to imply that racing seats could be held in place without good threads. Now let's just end the drama.