Stripped the bolts in the head.
Went and bought a set of helicoil,
Yanked the head to begin installing them,
Only to dicover the previous owner
had already done so.

Tried to clean out the threads as best
I could, and then tested a bolt without
the valvecover... still just spins without
getting tighter.

Anyone know how to go about extracting
a helicoil?

 

1) drill it
2) retap it
3) insert helicoil
4) be happy

I have been dealing with helicoils a lot lately. I have been replacing about 10,000 30 year old screws with new and better ones (busy work). About 1 out of every 5 brakes off and I have to replace the helicoil.