Time-Serts or bigger head bolts?

[Tanner123]

After the sweet smelling white smoke came out of my exhaust in plumes, I figured I’d check for stripped head bolts and warpage. I overheated last time i took the car out so coolant must’ve leaked into the cylinders when it sat overnight. I’m almost %100 sure i’m gonna find at least stripped head bolts, but hopefully I can still salvage the head with the help of a machine shop.
My biggest question after reading several threads (no pun intended), are timeserts a viable option? It’s not a track car or anything although it will spend a decent amount of time on the highway if that makes a difference.
Some folks swear by them and others refuse to touch the damn things and I can’t decide what I should do. I read a post by a guy who claimed to drill/tap the holes for M12 VW head bolts? Is this common practice and if so what is the process and where do I buy these different head bolts? I have a drill press so i’d probably make a drill guide to get the bit and threads started perpendicular. I just wanted to get some outside opinions before ruining my one shot at redemption...


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[jclausen]

It would be cheaper and faster to just put a used engine in, yes you could time sert the holes

[Tanner123]

How much could I get a used engine for? Is there any way that I could figure out wether the junkyard engine is any good or not? Replace the engine is a little scary when I only have three stripped holes, but I’d otherwise be throwing $150 + the price of head machining at a fix that might not hold. scary decisions...


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[jclausen]

Call lkq you should time sert all the holes

[Jack A]

There is a machine shop on the internet that did a test between Time Serts and Helicoil and the Healicoil won. They are a lot cheaper and stronger.

[jclausen]

I would use time serts but I would replace the engine with a used one instead