The Hodaka Club Forum

Amazing what people do. Drilled out a screw and went all the way to the crankcase.

It can be fixed, its not ruined. You can tap the hole and screw in an aluminum threaded piece. Screw it in tight. Also lock tight it in then drill and tap for your new screw thread. I would not recommend using a dissimilar metal plug either. It can cause drill drift when you go to drill and tap the new threads. Furthermore, aluminum taps, drills, and threads much easier than steel. Stay with aluminum and an alloy such as 6061. Use a lightweight lubricant such as WD40 when retapping. Locate the center of the new threaded hole exactly and use a small drill for the pilot hole, then gradually go up in size until you have the correct size hole for the tap size you are going to use. That should do it. If you cant do it a good machinist can easily do it. Thank you

I know it can be repaired, already got an offer to weld it up. The point was to show the things people are capable of doing. I would imagine others have seen similar cob jobs. Feel free to share.

I would not weld it. Welding can cause warping of sealing surfaces. Repair with a plug will not ever cause any warping. Also, trying to get down into a small hole with TIG is hard to do. Unless you open the hole up, then that takes more heat, more possible chance for warping. Every body screws up. I almost removed my left thumb using a table saw a few months ago. Got a dozen stitches in it. My youngest son just this past week went to sheath a knife, but ended up sticking the knife in his hand! ouch!. Yeah man, we do dumb things right?