(Home) Stripped thread & diagnosing/choosing headgasket

I have been having fun taking apart my engine 2TC. The problem was that I was losing 3 litres of water in 15 miles or so. All said and done the problem was caused by the radiator being choked up. Who ever had the van before me had removed the thermostat, not a good idea.
This van is 12 years old and as a rule for any vehicle you should change your radiator every 10 years.
I had the radiator recored 111 pounds.
I was given an initial quote of 80 to 90 for a recore if the pressure test did not work. Had I got a firm price/estimate before the test I am sure the price would have been a little better than the 111, anyway it is a big radiator in that it has 3 levels of fins.
I took the head off thinking that the head gasket must be blown to some extent and that 3 garages had confirmed the head was blown. No it was not, I found nothing wrong and there was no warpage of the head.
I went to get anouther head gasket from HAE they ordered it and when I went to pick it up, on close examination I found it was damaged on the metal ring next to the cylinder. I was not too impressed with the gasket anyway, the one I took off was better looking, a Payen br 850. The one I was offered just did not look safe.
I got one from Toyota, 57 pounds by its self. quite a chunk I was thinking for one gasket but when I picked it up this was heavy. It was solid metal, three layers. They said it is the only one they now do in the UK. I felt much happier paying the extra 15 or so pounds.
Now putting together the jigsaw puzzle I managed to strip a stud on the exhaust manifold.
Does anyone know a trick to repair a stripped stud in ally without major surgery???
I am thinking to put some liquid metal in the hole followed with a stud before it hardens and hope for the best.
Incidently there was a slight blowing sound before taking the engine apart, I confirmed the sound was coming from the exhaust manifold blowing at the gasket.
This can be an unwanted source of heat for the engine.
Also does anyone know how to have the postings on this site sent directly to yourself without going to the site?
Harry
- (#2126) Harry Chrisna, 5 Feb 02

All you can do with the stud is take the head to a motor(or motorcycle) engineer and have a helicoil installed.
You might be advised to check the manifold for flatness, they do warp, and will never seal right if so.
If it's not too bad, try doing what I did, and rub it on a nice flat paving slab...
Oh, and you can send direct messages to anyone by clicking on their name. - (#2128) david miller, 6 Feb 02

there used to be a helicoil thread maker, normally used for spark plugs on hillman imps, the alternative is the use of a stud extracter, drill a small hole in the broken stud and screw in the extracter, left hand thread, should draw out the stud.
it is easy to send to a contributer direct just by selecting their underlined name, however the site exists for the benefit of all, therefore, uunless the reply is of a personal nature, it is desirable to trawl for informed opinions - (#2164) John Collier, 8 Feb 02