I need some tips for replacing a leaky soft/core plug with the engine in the car. Limited space to work, plug is about 6" from the frame rail. Steel cup style plug Anybody got any tricks or made a special tool? Pulling the engine is a last resort. Thanks!
The best (short term) solution may be an expandable rubber plug. My race car sprung a leak last fall when we were at Indy and a rubber expandable plug kept me in the game. https://www.amazon.com/Dorman-Help-...3&psc=1&mcid=e75741995a4e3dfe8ce57e2d8ab67eee I ordered replacement brass plugs.
If the plug is steel, hit it multiple times with your MIG. That will shrink it and loosen any bond with the block making it easier to pull. You can also weld a "handle" onto it for easier gripping. To install the new one you can make a "pusher" with a bolt, nut, and short piece of pipe if the gap to the frame is shaped to permit this.
Without seeing the exact space requirements, what if you machined/built a stepped plug that fits inside the soft plug and then has an additional step to stop the insertion when it reaches the proper depth/block surface. Then fabricate a 90 arm, one length of the arm long enough to get some good leverage with your human arms, and one length long enough to press against the stepped plug. Of course you will need to find a surface opposite of the soft plug hole to push against with the elbow of the 90 arm. Basically using leverage to insert the plug. Although an expandable plug would be an easy temporary fix for sure.
I once had a small block Dodge in an early valiant that had four block heaters and no block heater cord….
I personally don't care for the rubber plugs even as a temporary fix. They need to go deep enough into the block that the washer on the plug hits the outside of the casting. Depending on the block, you may not be able to get it in far enough. If it's not in all the way, the rubber can't expand inside the water jacket and the cooling system pressure can push it completely out. And as most of you probably know, temperature gauges don't work if there is no liquid in the system.
They make copper also . https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...mvJ5AEd9ZozSwumlWzChKZBbAHVB8ZtBoC5hwQAvD_BwE
the best one I did was at the drag strip one night in 1980...truck dripping water on the track at the starting line...came out between the engine and transmission. Borrowed a floor jack, put it under the transmission, removed the driveshaft and transmission to block bolts and converter bolts and crossmember, moved the transmission back a few inches, removed the flex plate, and screwed a metal screw into the little rust hole in the freeze plug. Put it together, and placed in the races that night. Fixed it properly later when I had the engine out for something else. But yeah, plan on pulling the engine to replace all of them, because more than one is rusty.
The trouble with it being in a spot like that is that you can't usually get at it to do any of the slick tricks that guys suggest. I've got an old chisel that the tip on won't cut soft butter but I have gently pushed in one side of the freeze plugs to turn them so I can grab them with my channel locks and rock them out. A made for the task tool might do that. I've fished a bunch out of the block and pulled them back through the hole too.
One of those times that yanking the engine will make your life easier. Doing it in the car will strengthen your vulgarity vocabulary, however, so I am torn here.
I currently have the same problem with my tractor. My solution so far is to park it in the dirt and add water. Someday I may have enough ambition to actually fix it.
Over the last 50 plus years I have found a way to replace leaking, I'll call them frost plugs, in some of the darndest, most unbelievably inaccessible spots you can imagine. Some of the methods above included. Sometimes removing the engine isn't an option. If one is leaking it's a pretty safe bet others aren't far behind. It's a lot easier with the engine out, but in a lot of cases it can be done where it is. Lifting the engine a bit and removing engine mounts or other things in the way may help get the job done. It's certainly a job that can not only enhance your mechanical skills but also broaden your vocabulary.
Here in the land of winter, replace it with a block heater. Easier to get into a tight spot. Just tighten the screw.
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