Not exactly, but kinda............
First, clean the edges of the hole where the new plug is to go. I use the
sharp edge of a flat-bladed screwdriver. Make sure the outside edge has not
been damaged by previous owners' attempts to bang a plug into place.
Sometimes, there are hammer indentations which effectively make the hole not
quite perfectly round, which will make it difficult to get the new plug into
place. Remove any such defects with a file. The bottom surface of the hole
and the sharp angle where the plug will seat need to be really clean and
smooth so the plug seats properly all the way round.
Next, make sure the plug will go in the hole. Sometimes new ones are a bit
too big in diameter. If they are, you need to make them a bit more concave.
One way is to use a press, or a vise, and support the plug against a socket
that's big enough to just catch the outside edge of the plug, then press the
round part of a ball-pein hammer into the center of the plug to make it just
a tiny bit deeper. This will effectively make the plug more concave, so it
will go in the hole more easily. You are aiming to get the plug to have a
smooth slip fit so it will go all the way in against the back edge of the
hole.
That done, coat the plug's inner surface with clear silicone and smear some
around its outer edge. (Realise, of course, that the the plug goes in with
the convex side facing out!) Then press it into the hole so that it seats
firmly all the way in. Then take a hammer that is almost the diameter of the
plug and hold it against the center of the plug. With a second hammer,
administer a sharp blow to the first hammer. This will flatten the center of
the plug, thus expanding it into place. Do not hit it so hard that it
becomes deeply concave in the middle; you just want it to flatten out. Then
wipe off any excess silicone and repeat as needed till finished with all the
plugs.
Lawrie
British Sportscar Center
-----Original Message-----
From: s4usea@fanniemae.com <s4usea@fanniemae.com>
To: mg-t@autox.team.net <mg-t@autox.team.net>; Lawrie@britcars.com
<Lawrie@britcars.com>
Date: Sunday, February 28, 1999 1:49 PM
Subject: Re: Core Plugs
>
>Lawrie writes:
>>
>> The simplest way is to take a pointed punch and a hammer, bang the punch
>> into the middle of the core plug, then lever the plug out of the hole
with
>> the punch.
>>
>> While on this subject, though, I must correct one comment Lew Palmer
made.
>> The drilled passage to which he refers (on an XPAG, or T-series, block)
is
>> behind the rear-most plug in the raised water gallery. It is not behind
the
>> center plug. A trick we old and wrinkled restorers use on XPAG engines to
>> aid in their cooling is to duplicate this hole behind the front core plug
in
>> said raised gallery. All XPEG blocks had both holes, and adding the
second
>> one to XPAG blocks - as well as making sure the rear one is clear -
>> definitely helps the coolant flow.
>>
>
>Lawrie,
>
>And putting the new one in is the reverse sans the pointed punch?
>
>I mean, like taking a wood dowel and a hammer and pounding the new
>one in?
>
>Thanks again,
>
>Scott Allen
>
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