On Tue, 30 Dec 1997 10:39:02 -0800 "Frank R. Krajewski"
<frankk@businesson.com> writes:
>Looking for assistance in removing the brass oil drain plug from my
recently acquired 1953 TD. ..... quite a rounded plug at this time. Would
the application of heat to the plug or the pan (which expands at the more
rapid rate: brass or aluminum?) be of any value? .....
Whoa there! No sense applying heat to an oil pan full of oil. The oil
would keep the pan cool while you're heating the plug, the plug would
expand from the heat while the pan wouldn't, and it would just get
tighter. You would have to get the oil out first, all of the oil. And I
don't think sucking it out through the dipstick hole would get enough of
it out, so you would probably be in for removing the pan first.
Creative suggestion here:
Start by drilling a hole through the plug to let the oil out. If using
an electric drill, be careful not to get oil into the drill motor. Oil
is generally non-conductive, so not much risk of a shock, but it could
screw up the motor if enough oil got inside.
After the oil is out you can go after the plug with heat. Of course have
a fire extinguisher handy just in case. Plug the oil filler and any
crankcase vent holes to stop air circulation inside the engine. If you
manage to ignite the oil in the pan while applying heat, it won't burn
much without air circulation inside.
The brass is going to expand faster than the steel, so it probably won't
come loose with heating. It could however come loose with cooling. You
might try heating the plug and the pan together, then apply Ice to the
plug, and try unscrewing it with the vice grips while the pan is still
warm. Gloves would be in order here. If that fails, there's always
other ways.
As an alternative, drill through the plug to let the oil out, then go
after the plug with an acetylene or map gas torch. Brass will melt at a
much lower temperature than steel, so you should be able to melt the
brass plug and let it drip out of the threads by the time the steel
starts to glow dull red, much like melting solder. Do not let the molten
brass drip on you! Also do not heat the steel part beyond bright red or
you run the risk of distortion in the female threads. The threads will
probably clean out well enough to screw in a new plug (after cooling),
otherwise you will have to chase the threads with a tap.
Now tell me it's some really strange thread and you can't get a tap for
it. For the purpose of cleaning out an existing thread, you can sort of
make your own tap. You need a steel part with the proper male thread.
Hand file a notch in two places opposite each other in the leading corner
of the male thread. The notches will act as cutting flutes on a tap.
Use the modified part to chase the threads. If that modified part
happens to be a new steel oil plug, you can probably go ahead and use the
same part for the working oil pan plug.
This sounds like a bit of a fuss, but if it's a brass plug, and if you
have a good torch, it should be a straightforward job, pretty easy to get
it right, and fairly hard to screw up.
Keep us informed,
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
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