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Old 05-03-2018, 08:35 AM
cdhickey cdhickey is offline
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Stripped thermostat stud

Ah, the best laid plans of mice and sailors go often awry...

I started a big project on my A4 over the winter, replacing the water jacket side plate and stripping off most parts to clean and paint the old girl, all of which I will detail in a photo- and error-filled post sometime soon. It seems bad luck to post before I've actually got her running and floating again, and I've got a couple of issues to sort out first.

But on to my current issue- as I was reinstalling the thermostat and housing, I managed to strip the front stud. I can turn the nut a couple of times, after which it releases pressure and we start again. Does anyone have any thought on how to best remedy this?

My plan is to try to clean up the threads with a die and thread file and see if that will make it catch, but I'm not optimistic. If that doesn't work, the half-assed shade-tree mechanic in me says to add a bunch of gasket maker under the thermostat housing and rely on one full stud and the bit of pressure from the stripped stud to keep things together. The whole-assed shade-tree mechanic in me says to go down to a 5/16 die and move to a smaller nut on the existing stud. The over-engineer in me says to try to remove the stud with the head in place and replace it, although I suspect this will result in snapping it and having to go for a fancy new Moyer stud repair kit.

Any guidance would be appreciated. Launch is just a week away!
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