Brian
I think that if you propose to reuse the original crank you #must# play
safe by removing those plugs to check inside it. Having said that, I
have to admit that when I drilled out (per the instructions in the Green
book) one of the plugs, I found nothing nasty at all! The method that
they describe worked fine and I did no damage to the internal threads.
You might as well destroy the plug as you will have no way to screw it
back in.
On the other hand, seeing that you have new rods, I wonder a little that
you don't have a Phoenix crank too. We looked at our crank (66 years
old, 100 thou under) read Mr. Green's very conservative estimate of 500
million revolutions; and decided to forgo the paint job, new trim, also
holidays (maybe even eating!) for a couple of years to get that crank. I
really don't want to have to take this engine apart again (and of course
the cost of the remetalling and line boring goes down the drain if the
crank breaks). Phoenix service was excellent and the crank is a thing of
#beauty#!!
You pays your money and you takes your choice.
It sounds as though your engine is in as many pieces as ours: keep our
address on file, we may need to compare notes.
Regards
Dave Dwyer
J2/P-type engine
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