What is the best way to remove these stubborn plugs?  John Mummert said he drilled them and then heated with a torch.  

I remember one block I spent hours on getting its plugs out.  Used heat, broke one allen wrench, drilled, heated, rounded hex, drilled again, heated, and chiseled the bugger when it finally turned.

Also, why do they get so stuck with there being oil on their backside?

 

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

I have had good luck just heating them while applying pressure with a pull handle and allen head socket. I have had one that I had to drill, I just kept going to larger bits until I had it down to the threads, then ran a tap to finish cleaning it out.

Glen Henderson



Freedom is not Free

Letohatchee, AL

Much of the time just heating the galley plugs and letting them cool before attempting to remove will get them out.  The stubborn ones like to have a 3/8” hole drilled in them and an eaze-out being used to get them to unscrew out of the block.  On rare occaision, the hole has to be taken out to 7/16” (for a ¼“ NPT plug) and then a ¼” NPT tap ran back into the hole to clean it up.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Another helper at times is using an impact wrench, gently.  Snap On and others, i"m sure, make square sockets that fit the tops of the square, tapered extractors.(not the reverse thread round taper ones)  Drilling and driving in one of those extractors in conjunction with short hits with an impact wrench, sometimes in both directions almost always works for me without heat.  Remember to wear glasses as occasionally, brittle things can shatter.

The two blocks I've pulled apart I had good luck with heating and letting them cool, just like Ted described. Good luck.



And the response to your oil question is that it's only the end of the bolt that sees any oil. If there's a little moisture on the threads, and it sits for long enough they will start to rust together regardless of one end being exposed to oil.

Heber City, UT (15 mins outside of Park City- basically it's in the mountains)

55 Effie

Thanks for all the help.  The time required to get the plugs out was a lot less today than on some earlier removals.  Three came out relatively easy with heating.  Two needed heat,  drilling and chiseling.

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

Mike, while working on my second 292, I had pulled the oil passage plugs, and just for grins, ran a pipe tap into the threaded holes for the oil plugs. It amazed me how much gunk I cleaned out of there. I had previously cleaned the oil passages using a gun cleaning kit and its brass wire brush to chase that oil passage. Despite having already cleaned that passage from the front of the block, I dislodged a large amount of carbon when I ran that pipe tap in the sides.



I got the pipe tap in a set from Harbor Freight. It was cheap and a good investment.



Sounds like you pulled that 292 apart to fix the water leak.



Paul, formerly in Boise, now in Sitka

Best regards,



Paul Menten

Meridian, Idaho

No, I'm just kind of sitting on the 292 for a while.  There is new reason to believe it isnt leaking.  A friend may have an adapter of suitable size for the big cap on the '46 test radiator so the cooling system can be pressure checked.  The radiator cap in place now is only 3 psi I think, and a check at 7 psi would make me feel better if it holds.

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.