twoton- I considered helicoils. Have a few in my shop, but they're all metric since most of my other work is automotive (now that i think about it, probably only the 1450 and my 1981 Johnson outboard use SAE anymore). I'd have to get a kit to do the 3/8-16 helicoil and those kits are pricey and would come with several coils i'd never use. I barely use the metric ones i have...
Never used keyserts before. Got them because they were available at a local fastener supplier. Was actually looking for ez-lock inserts. Supplier only had three in stock but had a box of keyserts. Went over and looked at both. The ez-locks were heavier duty....much thicker walls on them. Don't know that the oil pan would have enough material to put those into, or there wouldn't be much left when done. The keyserts were higher than the ez-lock ($5 each keyserts, about $2 for ez-lock), but looked like a much better fit. I liked the full steel inserts over the helicoil so I could file off excess and have a steel contact area. Nothing wrong with helicoils, and they would have been easier. I just wanted a beefier assembly.
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