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By '59Edsel - 11 Years Ago
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Hey all,
I'm taking out one of my oil galley plugs to install an auxiliary oil pressure gauge, and the darn plug is rounded out. First off, does anyone know what size that plug is? If you know the thread size, and allen key size that'd be great. What would be awesome is if someone knows what kind of torx but might work to get it free. From what I'm reading the only good way to remove a rounded hex plug is to either weld on a bolt (not an option for me, no welder) or pound in a torx bit.
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By aussiebill - 11 Years Ago
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'59Edsel (11/21/2014)
Hey all,
I'm taking out one of my oil galley plugs to install an auxiliary oil pressure gauge, and the darn plug is rounded out. First off, does anyone know what size that plug is? If you know the thread size, and allen key size that'd be great. What would be awesome is if someone knows what kind of torx but might work to get it free. From what I'm reading the only good way to remove a rounded hex plug is to either weld on a bolt (not an option for me, no welder) or pound in a torx bit.
Can you try another plug that may be looser? otherwise you are in for work.
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By '59Edsel - 11 Years Ago
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I could either T off my oil pressure sending unit or use another galley port. The one I'm after is in the prime location for my copper line, so I'd like to try. Here's a shot of the plug itself. As you can see there is some meat left sticking out. Thankfully
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By '60 Fairlane - 11 Years Ago
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I have had luck with Easy Out Screw Extractors in the past on things like broken intake bolts. Don't know if that would be the right tool for this job though. With so much of the plug sticking out, if you could hit it with some heat from a torch and then, while hot, melt some bees wax on the threads you might be able to twist it the rest of the way out with a pair of vise grips. Just an idea. Good luck. Dave.
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By 2721955meteor - 11 Years Ago
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my solution is remove oil presure sender. then get a proper med. presure hose made up and mount the oil p. swith on the iner fender with a t and run the lin to gauge from there.if you attach a coper ine direct to the engine it will eventually brake. get a t with mounting tab as you want the oil sender grounded. takeng the plug you showed out has to much risk,could lead to engine removal. even with proper alen key they ar tough,plus metric key is close but stripes out(did that with block out).
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By paul2748 - 11 Years Ago
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Heat and vise grips may get it out. One problem with stuck threaded things is that vise grips will in all probability strip the threads off first then you can get a good grip on it. Usually there isn't much room to work when the engine is in the car.
A possible solution for removal is to weld a nut on the plug so you can use a conventional wrench on it. If your can get a welder up there.
think the size of the plugs are 1/4 pipe
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By miker - 11 Years Ago
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FWIW. An old time mechanic told me that repeated heating was the secret. Even with only a propane torch, repeated heat cool cycles cause the corrosion, rust or anything, to break down and release. Even when I had oxy/act torches, I was always afraid of melting something. If you've got the time, try 5 or 6 times, letting it fully cool. Last time I did this was on a 5/8 bolt froze up in a fromt spindle. We twisted off a 1/2 drive bar (with a long pipe over it) and broke an impact socket. Two days on and off heating, it came loose. Maybe that gives you a shot with the vice grips.
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By '60 Fairlane - 11 Years Ago
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The key to my suggestion is the wax. The heat will allow it to wick into the threads and will work as a lubricant. I was shown this trick on frozen galley plugs by a seventy year old gentleman around 1990, or so. Of course the engine he was working on was out of the car and the allen head not stripped out. Maybe Ted, or one of the other engine builders here, has a recommendation as how to proceed. Again good luck with it. Dave.
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By slumlord444 - 11 Years Ago
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They come out fairly easy if heated up first. The wax sounds like a good idea. I would clean the oil and grease off before heating.to avoid a fire.
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By Hollow Head - 11 Years Ago
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Yes, heat it up to red with big enough flame and quickly couple of times and then hammer the plug head a little to make allen head little tighter and then hammer correct size allen head to it and it should come loose easily. Easy to do when engine is off, little harder when enine is in  .
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By Ted - 11 Years Ago
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I’ve found that the factory installed plugs have been put in there to stay. If the engine has been rebuilt in the past with the plugs being removed and replaced, then the plugs do tend to come out easier. While heat and wax works in some of the cases, I still have to drill out a majority of the plugs to remove them.
But here’s a tip. Before actually trying to remove the plug by breaking it loose in a CCW direction, I’ve found that trying to tighten it first tends to help when trying to loosen the plug. The more difficult plugs simply involve drilling a hole into it and removing it with an extractor. In the chassis is simply problematic whereas I work with most blocks out of the car.
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By PF Arcand - 11 Years Ago
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Another method that might help, is to soak it in penetrating oil for a while. (I like Loyds Moovit.) Then use a light ball peen hammer & lightly & repeatedly tap it to set up some resonnence. Then you could follow that with one the previous suggestions..
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By '59Edsel - 11 Years Ago
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Well, I know when I've been beat. I decided to avoid the headache and just T off of the oil pressure switch. Maybe I'll try something in the future off I'm feeling like a challenge. For now I'll just wait until I do a rebuild to take them out. I'm happy with having a working oil pressure gauge and switch. But I will definitely add these tips and tricks to my archive. Thanks everyone.
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By 2721955meteor - 11 Years Ago
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just do not hook the coper line direct to the engine, or you will get to the overhaul point sooner.
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By MoonShadow - 11 Years Ago
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If my memory is correct their are 3 oil passage plugs on each side. Should be one near the oil pump/filter area. Maybe a little heat and penetrating oil will get that one out.
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By petew - 11 Years Ago
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If you can get at clean it real good, mig weld a nut to it then turn it out with a wrench. The heat from welding the nut on will free it up and the nut will give you something to wrench it out with. I have used this trick on broken studs with great sucess.
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By Outlaw56 - 11 Years Ago
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If you could get a friend to stop by with a mig welder and weld a nut or stud onto the existing plug, its always worked for me. A good mig welder can spot that up in just a few moments. Just dont keep working on it until there is nothing left to weld to. Waiting for the rebuild and having the engine out is a good idea as well.
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By '59Edsel - 11 Years Ago
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I do have a friend locally with a welder. Maybe I'll take it down to him…or just buy a welder. We'll see. I have been meaning to learn.
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By '59Edsel - 11 Years Ago
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Here's what I ended up doing in the meantime:
Here is the T coming from where the oil pressure switch was hooked up. I am using an old set of fittings. The engine had a rocker oiler kit installed when I bought the car, I removed it, but kept the fittings.
Here's the coil I added for vibration and a sheath of rubber hose to keep it from rubbing on the steering box:
And here it is entering the firewall:
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By lovefordgalaxie - 11 Years Ago
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Nice job. Having a working oil pressure gauge is a nice thing.
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By 2721955meteor - 11 Years Ago
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ok for a while but crude and the copper will break,every time the engine changes rpm it moves every time it changes gears it moves,coil or no coil it will brake,good luck
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By Ted - 11 Years Ago
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Short of using expensive AN fittings and lines, I have no issues with 1/8" copper tubing being used for oil pressure lines. Anything larger than this though can be problematic in regards to cracking or breaking where vibration might be encountered. The addition of a coil in the line is a OEM recommended solution for potential vibration or movement issues. I do frown on the use of the plastic line that comes with most gauge kits as it is easily melted or become brittle with age.
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By simplyconnected - 11 Years Ago
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Copper is not a good idea. Refrigeration units use their own blend of copper and they are simply called, 'refrigeration copper'. A much better choice would be to use; a brake hose where it flexes and brake line where it doesn't.
There is a product called, CUNIFER brake line that looks like copper but that's where the similarity ends. CU=copper, NI=nickel, FE=iron. It comes in 3/16" and 1/4" through Amazon.com. High-end European cars use Cunifer as original equipment. 3/16" is also used for the metric equiv. because you're going to flare the ends, anyway.
You can find brake hose with pipe threads or flare fittings. Adapters are available everywhere. - Dave
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