I'm in the process of replacing a headgasket on my 22r. I've allready put the gasket and the head on and tightened the head bolts to the right torque. When I went to put in the cylinder head to timing chain cover bolt it wouldn't tighten, it just screwed all the way in and kept spinning all loosely. The bolt itself was in really bad shape so I went and got a new one. the new bolt bolted in a lot tighter but when it got down towards the end it seemed to pop loose and is now just kind of spinning around like the old one.
My question is can I retap it for a slightly larger bolt? If I do this do I need to remove the cylinder head to do it? And if I do take off the cylinder head do I need to replace the headgasket again since I allready have all the headbolts tightened down? And I have used a tap of the same size on it and it didn't fix it.

 

What kind of shape is your timing cover in? Maybe it was close to needing replacement anyways?

 

it seems to be in good condition to me, but I really don't know what to look for as far as if it needs to be replaced or not. Do I need to take off the head again to do it? It might be a good idea to put a new cover on while I'm down there? Anybody got any more suggestions on what I should do? One thing that worries me with the new timing chain cover is if its stripped where it screws into the block also than I'm back to square one.

 

Well did the chain wear a railroad track into the side of the cover. Get a flashlight and look down into the the timing cover through the head and take some pictures and report back.
PS a new cover will be newly machined and not stripped