Hi Lawrie,
My note said that "one of the leading shops around here" used the epoxy
technique. That's not my shop. From what the proprietor said about the
epoxy popping loose for disassembly, that the bond of epoxy to the iron
would not seem particularly strong. One would hope that they would remain
a weak spot if ice were to form in the block.
Alas, my unheated garage is home for only two MGs, with 50/50 mix of
fresh antifreeze in their systems, an old Homelite generator and some
c1960s Ariens lawn machinery. Only the MGs have core plugs in their
engines, though all of them are keeping the antifreeze inside the engine.
Bob
On Fri, 11 Jan 2002 12:08:24 -0800 "British Sportscar Center"
<Lawrie@britcars.com> writes:
> Bob,
>
> I hope you live somewhere where it nevver gets really, really cold!
> One of the purposes of freeze plugs (as I'm sure you know) is to be the
> "weakest link" in the event of the coolant in the block freezing. If
the
> plugs are epoxied in place, they may be reluctant to pop out under
pressure
> from the expanded, frozen coolant, resulting in the problem they were
> supposed to prevent - a crack somewhere in the block.
> In my shop, we clean the holes where the plugs go, scrape the
> 90-degree angle as smooth as possible with the sharp edge of a
straight-blade
> screwdriver, apply a small smear of clear silicone sealer into the
> angle, then install the plugs and flatten them by holding one ball-pein
> hammer on the plug and hitting it with another hammer. (This latter
step to
> avoid missing the plug and hitting the block, which makes future
> installations more difficult once the hole is no longer round!). The
silicone
> sealer fills the tiny crevices but does not form a permanent bond.
Careful
> flattening of the plug, rather than smashing a great big dent in the
middle,
> spreads the sideways load to make the plug hold itself into place.
>
> Lawrie
> British Sportscar Center
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