Hi Guys Just got a aluminum intake manifold off ebay. Need to get a byp*** water hose fitting out and a br*** pipe plug out also. Tried the WD-40 trick and heat from a propane torch and nothing . I dont want to strip the fitting with vise grips. Any ideas befor i take it to a machine shop.
Drill a hole through the center of the br*** plug as large as possible...it will relieve some pressure off the threads...if needed chisel the wall to make a slit it it...works sometimes!
Try a center punch and a drill bit close to the size of the plug. Drill it out and then use a small chisel to get it out the rest of the way.Then retap if you have to.This has worked for me in the past.
I've removed outlet fittings by cutting notches inside the fitting with an airsaw and a narrow blade. I cut 3 or 4 and stop just before getting into the threads of the manifold. Then you can just chisel out the pieces. You can do the same with the plug, by drilling out the center
A friend had same problem solved it using the candle wax trick .. I have tried it on gas pump fittings never worked for me . might be worth a try..
That works quite well and you can use a saw blade in a handle or a file too, The idea is to just get to the threads in two or three places but don't cut into the threads and then use the chisel to break the piece out.
Candle wax acts like a lube... Try heating the area around the plug with map gas in the yellow bottle and then dab some wax around the threads.. That should loosen things up for ya...
Drill & slice as mentioned above.The idea is to cave the pieces in on themselves & then chase the threads with pipe tap. Take your time & sneak up on it......
Best success I've ever had with pipe fittings is using a real pipe wrench and some good leverage and work slowly. NPT threads are tapered to lock in a watertight seal. You need to "persuade" it to start moving and once you do you're home free.
Make sure when you are heating it, that you are not getting the plug itself too hot, or it just expands as well. Start your heat away from the plug and work in a circle. I try and stay an inch or so away from the actual plug. Always seems to work for me that way.
This is the way. We remove things from irreplaceable stuff here at the shop quite often. This process has yet to fail. FWIW, I do it twice on aluminum since it cools so quickly. The wax WILL get down around there. Just be patient.
give it a good smack with a hammer before trying to twist it out, might also try soaking with brake fluid
Candle wax trick is the best, we use it everyday here at the machine shop to remove stubborn plugs from blocks and cylinder heads!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wax works...and please ditch the WD40 ****. It doesn't free up anything!! Its purpose is to displace moisture, nothing more. If you need to use a real penetrating fluid made to free up stuff go buy PbBlaster or other chemical suited for the job. I take rusty **** apart every day and you will never do it with WD40.
I'm here to say!!! I've seen broken alum. intakes with that method. When there locked in somethings gonna move, like a chunk of intake with the fitting still in it.
If you do the wax trick, it takes a certain amount of heat. You want enough heat to allow the wax to "wick" it's way into the threads. But, too much heat will just boil the wax away from the threads. And as Don said, just heat the aluminum around the plug
need hotter torch, the propane bottle just won't cut it. heat it as said earlier, tap on it good, and try to work it back and forth to free it up. patience gr***hopper.
Heat and wax but if you must use vise grips or pipe wrench on an old fitting sometimes I use a socket or some round stock tapped in the center to keep from colapsing it when you put the wrench on it .
the corrosion between steel fitting and aluminum manifold is not something to **** with - drill it out as described above.
sounds like all the answers are here, i drill them out too and use the square kinda easy out on them alot too.........works good.....the drilling will relieve the pressure, put some heat in and the square easy out grabs real good.....
Most likely the alum has a grip on it, dissimilar metals here gents, I would start drilling the br*** plug out bit by bit to as large as you can then as several guys have said here take a saw blade or a 3 cornered file and cut a couple notches in it with out hitting the manifold threads and then take a small chisel and chip it out,chasing the threads with a pipe tap when done, use a good quality thread sealer when you install another fitting. Trying to twist it out runs a risk of ripping out the threads in the alum.
a few thoughts i had.. first off.. they do make square head sockets.. try one of them and a good ratchet. second another thing that may work as a lube is lamp light ultra pure lamp oil.. its liquid paraffin (what you get when melting wax) also what probably happened was the br*** and steel created a little bit of voltage being in antifreeze and created a bit of corrosion. and it is aluminum you can fix it with JB weld and drill a new hole and run a NPT tap down in it to make a new threaded hole if ya screw it up
Don't apply force in one direction, back and forward. Use a few drops of penetrating oil and work the plug back and forth. Walk away, let the oil soak and try it again tomorrow. Don't get impatient.
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