How to install a freeze plug?
- Thread starter PotvinGuy
- Start date
I would not reuse the freeze plug. Get a new one.
I smear epoxy around the side of the plug and then use the largest 1/2 drive deep socket that will fit into the well of the plug and pound it in with a Ford Wrench... oops, I mean a hammer. Then I use a presidential or prick punch to surround the plug with a series of dents into the cast iron next to the plug. This raises just a touch of iron at the edge of the plug to help lock it in.
I smear epoxy around the side of the plug and then use the largest 1/2 drive deep socket that will fit into the well of the plug and pound it in with a Ford Wrench... oops, I mean a hammer. Then I use a presidential or prick punch to surround the plug with a series of dents into the cast iron next to the plug. This raises just a touch of iron at the edge of the plug to help lock it in.
fordsbyjay
Active Member
I would be more worried if your block is not cracked somewhere. Like everyone said just get a big socket and a big hammer. They are usually hard to put in while the motor is in the car because there is no room to swing a hammer. I have also used rubber expandable plugs as a temporary solution. They can be had a autozone etc.
Screaming Metal
Active Member
Socket and hammer....your car looks like you can get at the motors freeze plugs with out problems.....if its cramped, try using a extension on the socket. Let the freeze plug get cold also, put a little dribble of loctite around the plug and drive her in....if it goes in too easy....might have to up a touch......there are oversize plugs. Sometimes, you also have to get a ball-pien hammer and tap on the rim of that freeze-plug there on the rim to expand it....but it should go in fine straight off the bat....
I worked with a GM engineer who would say that "soft" plugs were put in the engine to fill the holes that
had been used to drain the sand from casting the block, and had nothing at all to do with protection from freezing water.
Jeff
CrAlt
New Member
Thats what ive always heard also..
They didn't save the block in my brothers ram van.. It cracked in a few spots.
If the plug is hard to get at or this is a daily driver that needs to get fixed in the cold they make EZ plugs that are rubber that expand when you tighten a bolt in the center.
They are kinda dorky looking but will get you back on the road quick.
From what I have seen over the years if it froze solid enough to push out a plug it cracked the block. I hope I am wrong this time. The only reason those holes are there is for the foundry to get the sand out of the block when it was cast. Had nothing to do with freeze protection. Good luck to ya.
Ted Brown
Member
Most any tool shack should have a soft plug driver kit, it works on most all sizes of soft plugs, (fits inside the plug to locate the driver, but drives the plug at the outer lip) It has a long, say 16" bar and ball swivel and a bend at the end... You can reach most any soft plug except the ones behind the flywheel... Who knows? one of them may have worked loose also, you will find out when you add coolant... Good luck 
Screaming Metal
Active Member
Mike
Well-Known Member
Ouch! Well, here's hoping you have been living right or you had an early block that hadn't been bored, because if water froze up enough to shove a core plug out, you likely have bigger problems on your hands.
Butch, they are 'Welch' plugs, designed by the Welch Brothers, of Welch Motor Car Company fame.
A bit of gasket sealer around the outside of the plug and drive it in. I have cold chills running up and down my back from the tales of driving a plug in with a socket and extension, but I suppose if you do not have access to a driver, then one must do what one must do. <shudder> The proper driver will have a step on its O.D. to drive the plug in at the actual lip, rather than running the risk of distorting the plug by driving it at the center. If you are building a race motor, you may want to find a means to help retain the plug in the block, such as staking it or tapping the plug boss and loctiting a retainer screw into it. Race cars are known to do some really unpredictable things, when they start trying to drive through their own coolant. :nod:
If you're holding onto that glimmer of hope that a core plug might push out before a block can be damaged by freezing water, I wouldn't try to lock the plug into place.
Butch, they are 'Welch' plugs, designed by the Welch Brothers, of Welch Motor Car Company fame.
A bit of gasket sealer around the outside of the plug and drive it in. I have cold chills running up and down my back from the tales of driving a plug in with a socket and extension, but I suppose if you do not have access to a driver, then one must do what one must do. <shudder> The proper driver will have a step on its O.D. to drive the plug in at the actual lip, rather than running the risk of distorting the plug by driving it at the center. If you are building a race motor, you may want to find a means to help retain the plug in the block, such as staking it or tapping the plug boss and loctiting a retainer screw into it. Race cars are known to do some really unpredictable things, when they start trying to drive through their own coolant. :nod:
If you're holding onto that glimmer of hope that a core plug might push out before a block can be damaged by freezing water, I wouldn't try to lock the plug into place.
Milt, I'd come back in a heartbeat. Ardmore was purtinear paradise. My bucket has been sitting in the garage for 3 months and probably has 2 more to go. I'm aching for a little acceleration and the wind whistling thru my tattoo...
K2 in MN
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