Cadillac Repair: northstar, time serts, bolt holes

Question
Hey Bill, Can you help with stripped head bolt holes in the block on a 94 Seville 4.6? I have the heads off and now I find out that the holes in the block are stripped , the local dealer tells me that is normal with 160,000 miles and that I have to purchase "timeserts" from them ,but the tool kit to install these things is not available they get theirs from the factory and NO,I CANNOT BORROW or RENT it.I called a different dealer and he said NEW MOTOR.  

Answer
Hi JR, The first dealer is correct in that time serts are better than heli coils for this repair. If you call Kent Moore Tools at 1-800-345-2233 they are where the dealers get their tools. I don't know if you have to buy a whole kit or if you can just get the tools and serts for the head bolts. Another option would be to call around to machine shops in your area and see how much it would cost to have the work done and what they need to have brought in to do the work. A 4.9L caddy engine needed 3 threads done and one of them I didn't find out until torqueing the bolts down so needless to say off came the head again to repair the threads. Hopefully yours won't turn out that way. Bill