Most of the engines I've taken apart had a plug with an allen wrench here. But this one looks like a 3/8" ratchet head, but is slightly smaller than that. Can anybody suggest what tool will work in removing this? It's located to the left of the big plug behind the cam shaft, behind the small freeze plug at the back of the engine and has the small hole in it.


PC081671.jpg

PC081673.jpg

 

A square pipe plug socket. I got mine at NAPA.

 

You can try grinding the threads of a long bolt square to fit into the plug and try using a socket to remove it

 

Do not fail to reinstall that plug or one like it, having the spurt hole. Many folks, under the notion that new is better, put in the plug that came with a kit or something, and those DO NOT have a spurt hole. The factory engineered correct part is better. Even if it is old as hell, and not as pretty as the new one.

5/16" square I believe
The first such tool, I acquired by finding a Craftsman punch in the toolbox, with a 5/16" square shank and made of good steel, then the cutoff wheel provided me a short piece of that. Insert that in a mating 12-pt socket and voila your special tool. Silicone the square shank in place in the socket if you want it to be a permanent special tool.

If you can buy a pipe plug driver at NAPA that would probably be faster and just as good.

There are some on ePay but I don't see any with a 5/16" business end.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Grey-Pneumat...item5d35802f58

aha... but $10-11 delivered, and 1/2" DRIVE WILL NOT FIT THRU THE ACCESS HOLE.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Grey-Pneumat...item2c690c250b

And, again I say "AHA!!"
This one is 3/8 drive x 5/16" sq.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Grey-Pneumat...item5d35807f6f

 

John:

I think I would try a faucet seat removal tool from Home Depot or a hardware store. The are square and tapered. You might have to cut it off somewhere in the taper to get it to fit in the plug. Good luck.

 

i used a 5/16" woodruff key with a 12-point socket. that sucker was in there tight.


bill

 

I would be surprised if a mild steel key would do that job [btw the Woodruff key is a half moon shape so that must be a snafu]. Thus my use of the high quality tool steel as found in a name brand punch. I think the first square piece I tried was ordinary steel, and it just twisted. Use the best socket you can get too. Not Chinesium.

Use an impact tool if possible- an impact will remove fasteners better than a slow application of torque- and heat as required.

 

I have use a square shank on a chisel or punch also. A 5/16" square key similar to what is on the crankshaft but bigger. . .now that is a good idea.

 

Again, except for the quality of the steel vs. the often extreme stuckness of the plug... Punches are high quality heat treated steel... keys are mild untreated steel. It makes a HUGE difference in strength.

Oh and by the way, the SHORTER the small square part, the better. Pretty sure it was key stock I used the first attempt, many years ago, and the corresponding socket would not fit thru the access hole, so I had to use a square piece about 4-5" long... which just twisted up.

 

I thank all of you guys for the suggestions. This will be a good thread to reference when this question comes up again.

I may be purchasing one from ebay as per the link posted by Octania. I went to a local NAPA store, specialty tool store, and finally a plumbing supply store. When I described what I needed they all looked at me funny and said "we don't have anything like that here"

Oh Well... I was hoping to get this block stripped and on the trailer of scrap metal this weekend. It was suggested I try the local True Value Hardware store, so I'll go there tomorrow and if I strike out again then to ebay I go!


John

 

One great thing about making your own tools... if the material is on hand in your garage already- it's DONE in less time than it takes to even go to ONE store and see IF they have it. Last weekend, I had to go to THREE stores to get a M12 tap to complete a job on the kid's Saturn. First store, no got. 2nd store, AZone, has a kit of many taps, but employees too busy to sell it to me. Finally, MeNards won with a single tap, and cashiers waiting to take me moolah.

Sometimes it's not even possible to get that tool. A few yrs ago, I was parting out many engines, and often they came to me with the crank frozen and a torque converter still on the flexplate. How you gonna get that 3rd TC bolt out?? The one up high, between engine and flexplate? Ratchet and socket are sometimes too fat to fit. Box end wrench too shallow, hits the ring gear. One day I had enough of that and found a scrap socket that fit. Went to the Buy-n-sell store where they have 100's of wrenches for cheap. Found a box end wrench that fit OVER the proper socket. Mocked up a bolt and spare flywheel and welded the socket to the wrench. PERFECT... fits right in, clears the ring gear... should have done that years ago.

Never hesitate to MODIFY other tools and such to your purposes.

I bought a "Shipwreck Tools" hydraulic puller and immediately modified it to easily fit Olds Balancers. Takes less than 2 minutes to pull a balancer, and that includes getting the tool out. I am currently modifying the hyd. puller to make the ultimate prop puller for at work- sometimes we encounter a prop stuck tight on the shaft- 50" AL props on a 1" shaft. Loose-3-jaw pullers are at best a joke- they fall off again and again- and are almost impossible to get to actually grip the roundish hub of the prop, The forcing screw wanders off center, the work required is far more than it should be, etc. I used Sketchup to generate a quick 3D model of the plates needed to make the Perfect Puller after hand making one (out of whatever was handy) to prove the concept, and am now waiting for the cut metal to come from the metal work shop. When my soopervisor [sic] heard that the Chinese hydraulic puller from Grainger was $1800 [Eighteen HUNDRED dollars], he said "manuel [sic] it is then"... He's embarrassed to have HFT chinese tools on hand [even if they work right], but too cheap to spring for the other supplier's version. So I am making one using a forcing screw and another plate to allow the use of my hydraulic unit instead as the forcing member. At $80 per hydraulic unit, we can buy a new one every year for TWENTY YEARS and still come out ahead.

 

John, I have a set of those sockets, I can bring them by if you like, Dave

 

Google is your friend:

http://www.toolbarn.com/grey-pneumat...rivesmpps.html

 

Help me - I'm confused? What am i missing here? I thought the guy was looking for a tool to fit over the "male" square pipe plug?(see his pic at top in original post) And all i am reading in the posts is about either making or buying a tool to fit into a "female" end of a pipe plug!! Even the tool barn pic/link is opposite of what the guy is looking for - isnt it? If the female end of a 3/8 drive extension is too big what else can be used here?

 

Sorry, Tweed, but apparently the angle of the light in that first photo is playing tricks on you. The factory plug has a female square recess. A "socket" with a square male feature is required to remove it. I've done this on a number of Olds motors, which I why I have the sockets to fit.

 

OK -- optical illusion it is!! After studying the 2nd pic I can now see it is recessed ---- just like all that i have also encountered!! Here all along I thought this guy had run into a male plug that had been drilled?? Ugh!! See?? I said i was missing sumptin!! LOL Thanks Joe!!!

 

Wow! You're right. The pictures are like those trick drawings where you can't tell whether it's coming out toward you or going away from you.

Neat!

- Eric

 

Dave, thanks for the offer. I do need to purchase one of these for future use. But if you happen to stop by before I get one please bring it with you!


John

 

Thanks Joe! That looks like one on ebay that Chris posted the link to. It looks like I'll be purchasing one of these as I've struck out at the local stores.


John

 

i got my set from mac tools

 

Actually, this optical illusion was seen a lot in the pictures of the moon that were sent back by the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft. Craters looked like mounds due to the way the light was angled in the photos.

 

it worked for me, but i did use the name woodruff key incorrectly, i had that on my mind at the moment. just a plain, square, 5/16" key.
here it is:

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...1&d=1355429120

yes, at first, i thought i had snapped it when the plug broke loose. no heat/lube needed for me.


bill

 

joe,i never saw the mounds before,now I'll never see the craters again.the power of suggestion