You may know from my previous posts that I recently acquired another '33 Ford Roadster, in addition to my old '33 Ford Roadster project with the 348. The new roadster is a "complete, running" car with an older SBC "Mr Goodwrench" 350 ci engine. After thorough inspection of the car (this is the first hot rod that I have not built myself and I wanted to be sure that the car was screwed together correctly and was safe), I found a number of punch list items that need my attention (6 pages & 89 issues so far), but most are minor clean-up items and will not effect my putting the car on the road. There are about a dozen items that need to be fixed (or have been already) before I feel comfortable with putting the car on the street.
The current problem is a coolant leak from the driver's side head where a threaded plug is installed to block where a temperature sensor may be installed. I need some suggestions from the group on how best to resolve this problem.
As shown in the first picture, the driver's side head has a threaded port that has a 2-piece pipe plug installed where a temperature sensor could be installed. The large part of this 2-piece plug is leaking coolant and needs to be replaced. I have removed the headers and spark plugs from this head and removed the small hex-headed pipe plug that was threaded into a larger threaded plug that is screwed into the head itself. The small pipe plug came out fairly easily and did not require any major effort to remove.
The question I have is how do I remove the larger threaded plug from the head (see pictures 2 and 3)? It appears to be brass, based upon the color of the head of the plug. Apparently, it was screwed into the head by installing the smaller pipe plug into the larger threaded plug, and then using the small plug to tighten the larger threaded plug into the head. As I noted, the smaller hex-head pipe plug came out easily, but now I have nothing to grab on to the larger plug to unscrew it from the head. Do I put a large EZ-Out into the small threaded hole and hope I can get enough bite to break the larger threaded plug free from the head (with the knowledge that I will totally screw up the smaller plug threads in the process)?
Or, do I JB-Weld the smaller pipe plug back into the large plug and hope it stays tight enough in the larger threaded plug to let me use it to un-screw the large plug from the head? Or, ????
The engine is installed in the car and the head is about 6" from the inner fender apron. There isn't really enough room or clearance to get a torch in there to heat the plug. Nor is there room in there for me to get a drill in there to drill it out. I don't want to remove the head unless I absolutely have to do so.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Do either of my suggestions above sound like good options?
Thanks for any help you may have.
John
The current problem is a coolant leak from the driver's side head where a threaded plug is installed to block where a temperature sensor may be installed. I need some suggestions from the group on how best to resolve this problem.
As shown in the first picture, the driver's side head has a threaded port that has a 2-piece pipe plug installed where a temperature sensor could be installed. The large part of this 2-piece plug is leaking coolant and needs to be replaced. I have removed the headers and spark plugs from this head and removed the small hex-headed pipe plug that was threaded into a larger threaded plug that is screwed into the head itself. The small pipe plug came out fairly easily and did not require any major effort to remove.
The question I have is how do I remove the larger threaded plug from the head (see pictures 2 and 3)? It appears to be brass, based upon the color of the head of the plug. Apparently, it was screwed into the head by installing the smaller pipe plug into the larger threaded plug, and then using the small plug to tighten the larger threaded plug into the head. As I noted, the smaller hex-head pipe plug came out easily, but now I have nothing to grab on to the larger plug to unscrew it from the head. Do I put a large EZ-Out into the small threaded hole and hope I can get enough bite to break the larger threaded plug free from the head (with the knowledge that I will totally screw up the smaller plug threads in the process)?
Or, do I JB-Weld the smaller pipe plug back into the large plug and hope it stays tight enough in the larger threaded plug to let me use it to un-screw the large plug from the head? Or, ????
The engine is installed in the car and the head is about 6" from the inner fender apron. There isn't really enough room or clearance to get a torch in there to heat the plug. Nor is there room in there for me to get a drill in there to drill it out. I don't want to remove the head unless I absolutely have to do so.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Do either of my suggestions above sound like good options?
Thanks for any help you may have.
John
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