ctrain22

Ok.....what's the trick to installing an oil dipstick tube into the block. I just got one from The Parts Place, but how to you drive it into the block?

joe_padavano

Search is your friend:

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums/37985-post10.html

Jamesbo

Not to questions Mr. P's knowledge, but try putting it in the freezer first.

68Tom

Don't feel bad, I couldn't get the very same dipstick tube in. I just let the guys finishing up my car do it.

I too heard the freezer method might work, although Joe's sounds like the more sure-fire method.

ctrain22

I can see the freezer thing making it shrink a little, but where would you get a tool like Joe suggestes? Or what can you use in place of it?

Jamesbo

I'm sure it is. I just don't know about the tool.

citcapp

I installed mine by putting it in the freezer the using and adjustable end wrench above the ridge and taping with a small hammer worked fine and I did not hurry it or hit hard.

joe_padavano

Math is also your friend.

The coefficient of thermal expansion for steel is about 0.00000645 in/in/deg F. Assuming your freezer is at 0 deg F and your garage is at 80 deg F, the difference in diameter of the dipstick tube (without one in front of me I'm guessing it's about 0.50" in diameter) is 0.00026 inches. That is not going to make a difference.

Let's say you put the dipstick tube in dry ice (-109 deg F). The tube then shrinks a whole 0.00061 inches.

OK, do that AND heat the block by putting it in a broiler over (500 deg F), and the difference becomes ALMOST 0.002 inches. Now you might have something.

On the other hand, the adjustable wrench is a good idea. The trick is to bear on as much of the flange of the tube as possible. The Kent Moore tool has the advantage of bearing on about 180 deg of the flange and putting the hammer in line with the flange (that's the downside to the adjustable wrench method). I will tell you that you should not use a large screwdriver and hammer, however. I tired that one time and compressed the flange, cutting it.

If you get a piece of tubing that the dipstick tube just slips into, you can make your own installation tool by cutting away part of the larger tube until it just slips over the dipstick tube and bears on the flange.

Olds64

I bought a chrome dipstick tube from Summit and it went in by tapping it a bit with a hammer. No worries.

Hairy Olds

I would think using a crowsfoot wrench on a extension on the ridge of the tube would do the job.

Jamesbo

Joe,

Sincerely,

I'm not trying to be argumentative here. Wouldn't that last statement depend on the size [or difference in size] of the hole in the engine block?

I guess what I'm asking is, What kind of tolerances are we talking about here.

citcapp

Forgot to mention if you use a chrome tube they are harder to install then a stock tube. I think th chrome increases the diameter a bit.

joe_padavano

Reminds me of the old Monty Python bit:

I'm here for an argument.

No you're not.

Yes, I am.

etc, etc.

Actually, the answer is no. On a 0.5" diameter tube and matching hole, no matter what the clearance or interference is when both parts are at the same temperature, a change of 0.00026" in the clearance will make just about no difference in how they fit together. The difference is five HUNDRETHS of one percent - 0.052% to be exact. Again, I'm not saying that 0.00026" is the clearance, it's the CHANGE in the clearance, whatever that was originally.

mugzilla

My dipstick is a pain...

Now I know why ...

Jamesbo

Ok,

I believe ya. But the freezer works well installing the metal perches on my bird feeder. Get em good and cold and the slide right thru.

Olds64

Mine was too easy to install. I think my mother could have done it and she isn't mechanically inclined at all.