If the remaining thread in the block was a concern, would using a stud help?
It would depend on the amount of damage to the thread. I tend to err on the side of caution where head attachment is concerned as there's very little room for error. One of my racing competitors had a flaky torque wrench and stripped one head bolt thread as he was assembling his engine. He kept going, and ended up with 6 stripped threads and damage to several others. I salvaged his VERY expensive race block with a lot of prep work done to it by making up a drill guide jig and putting HeliCoil inserts in all the head bolt holes.
Did I mention he had a bad case of Budweiser fever while he was building that engine?
Jerry
