This came up about a month ago. The general question was - how can I
get a freeze plug in my MGA engine without taking out the engine. The
answer was to use a mechanical type compressible (4 or 5 part) freeze
plug as outlined on Barney's webpage (www.mgaguru.com). That was a good
answer, and I tried it. I bought 5 of the compressible core plugs just
in case. The first one I put in, I overtightened. The large flat head
fell in my water jacket, and was a lot of work to remove. The second
one I tried seemed to work better, but I was pretty cautious tightening
so as not to break the bolt. This seemed to work, but a month later
(now) I realized that the plug was leaking. So, I bought a regular plug
at the local auto parts store, sealed it with aircraft gasket sealant,
pressed it with a bottle jack, pounded it with a ball peen hammer, and
lastly put some JB Waterweld around the outter surface. As I've had
waterweld on a pin-hole coolant leak for 3 years with no issues, I
expect that this will work. I plan to carry the spare
mechanical/compressible plugs with me as a back-up. I guess I'll know
in about a week if this all worked or not (it's cold here in Idaho
Falls, Idaho - so the MGA doesn't get driven much).
Thanks again for the help. I'll let the list know if I have to find yet
another alternative.
Phil Bates
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