hi, i cant remember if the oil gallery plug, located behind the ,,freeze plug,, has a hole or not?



so, that the engine is after a total rebuild in the car and ready for rumble, i would like to know, if anybody ever replaced that plug through the distributor hole?

i think this could be possible. ??!!

dont want to pull the engine, only to replace that one plug, if its a solid one. will look with a dentist mirror if it has a hole or not.
the one in the front is the correct one.

 

Most shops remove all of the galley plugs so that they can do a thorough cleaning. If they replaced the plugs (likely) then it probably does not have a hole in it.

 

you better be sure that plug on the right side has a .30-.040 hole in it

 

I had the same problem after a rebuild, the shop put in a plug that came with the engine kit, and it had no hole in it.

I didn't want to pull the motor, so I removed the trans and flywheel and had excellent access to the freeze plug.
I also removed the distributor and stuffed a rag into the area below the galley plug to prevent it falling into the oil pan.
Popped the freeze plug out, and removed the hole-less galley plug.
I had a vehicle lift, so that made the job easier, but it shouldn't be too much more difficult on jack stands.

One of those extendable magnetic pick-up tools will come in very handy during this job.

 

yes, thanks for the replies. but i wanted to know if it would be possible to remove the plug ONLY by removing the distributer. the hole should be big enough to reach the plug with a hex tip screwdriver and that magnetic tool....

the car is now at a buddy of mine, and thats not so near to me, so i cant look at myself now.

 

No, I don't think you will be able to.

By the way, while it looks like a "freeze plug", it isn't, not into the coolant jacket.

 

captjim, thats why i used '' '' before freeze plug ;-) i meant a lookalike.

does anybody know if the freeze plug kit from ELGIN does have the plug with the hole? because thats the set i bought, but cant remember if one of the plugs had the hole.

 

If you can't see the hole, you should be able to see oil from it when priming engine.
What about the front plug?

 

its not likely that kit had the plug drilled, i used a drill press to drill the hole in my aftermarket hex plug kit because the factory plug is that 5/16 square plug and the aftermarket freeze kits are the hex which are easier... you need to pop out the 15/16th (or whatever size plug) and look

 

I doubt you'll be able to get the pipe plug out through the distributor hole. You're probably not going to have enough room to swing anything in that short distance either. I'm not aware of any ratchet type tool that has that short a throw.
Best bet is what was stated earlier. Drop the transmission and go through the back. It is a 15/16th plug and they hole is .040 inch.

 

front plugs are the originals. one with hole, the other without. but what i read in bill trovato's ,,how to build max performance oldsmobile v8,,

is:,, ... there are two lifter gallery plugs in the front of the plug behind the timing chain, one of which has a tiny spit hole to lubricate the timing chain. i usually plug this hole; the timing chain gets plenty of oil without it. i have left the spit hole in there also, and never found it to affect oil pressure. it's your choice but i would plug it, whether you weld it shut or just fill the back of the plug with silicone'' ?!

 

ok guys, got it without removing the tranny

here are some pics, how you will be able to do .

maybe intersesting for you.

 

That's amazing. I was convinced that this was not possible. Good job.

 

X2

 

X3

 

X4

 

Nice work

 

I ran into the same problem the guy who built my engine put a regular pipe plug in there... I got it out this way but damn I'm having a hell of a time getting the new one in. Any tips? I cut a down a 5/16 allen to fit in the dist hole. Im just having a hard time getting it to line up to get it started..

 

yes, i know. getting it in is much more difficult. the only tip is: stay cool and calm and try try try, until the screw ,,bites,,.

i used some sticky tape to fix the allen on the wrench....

 

Just an update. I got the plug installed yesterday morning after work.

 

mother of invention, that was righteous

and, they said it couln't be done!

 

The problem typically shows up in the aft end of the engine's LEFT oil passage. Where the distributor is. Where the cam pushes the distributor gear down against its seat in the block.

 

Just did this.

While priming mine a while ago I noticed no oil stream. An inspection mirror revealed no hole in plug.

Some notes:

• Took about 2 hours from pulling dist until test firing.
• Plug was very tight. Used a regular ~ 5" long L hex wrench with another box wrench on it for leverage to loosen. Thought something was going to snap. Managed to move it about 1/8 turn before I ran out of room for big hex wrench.
• My GearWrench 8mm was the key to success. 8mm = 5/16". Has very fine ratchet. Took an amazing amount of force. I was sure it was going to strip/snap at times when I had another box wrench on it as an extender, but it held together & is fine. Impressive.
• Try to position parts so wrench is centered in the hole for maximum stroke.
• There's no way to drill the .030 hole all the way through the plug (at least not without a precision drill press). I drilled the .030 hole from the front to about 1 mm deep. This took a long time. So, I carefully drilled an 1/8" hole from the back to just about where I thought the .030 hole ended. A little more .030 drilling and it popped through. .030 part of hole is about 1.0-1.5 mm long.
• Little pieces of duct tape are your friends.
• A wearable headlight helps a lot
• No fenders, hood, heater/AC box on my car. Would be very challenging if car was together.
• Be patient. Very tedious at times when trying to manipulate things down in the dist hole.

The little oil stream is very obvious now when priming. I tried to get a vid of the stream, but couldn't get anything usable.

The solid plug had bugged me since I discovered it, but I really didn't want to pull trans to go thru back of engine. So, HUGE thanks to those that pioneered/perfromed this method & posted !

 

I know this is an old post but I found myself in the same position as others with a newly rebuilt engine installed in the 69 442 I’m restoring and, when I went to prime it, realized the left rear galley plug did not have the hole in it to lubricate the distributor/cam gear.

Based on the information you guys provided I was able to remove and replace the plug through the distributor hole . This saved me all the work of removing and reinstalling the transmission, clutch and flywheel. So thanks!!!!

I thought I would add a couple of comments from my experience in case someone else find themselves in the same position.



1) I used a gear-wrench with a cut down allen wrench like the others to remove it. Really worked well. I put electric tape in front of and behind wrench on allen key so it wouldn't slide off on the way in and out of the hole.

2) The only “holy crap” moment of the whole project was when I realized that if I tipped the “tool” to get it out of the distributor hole the plug would fall off. I had the rags in there but it really worried me so I used one of those flexible magnet tools to remove the plug before the tool came out.

3) The only problem I had drilling the hole in the plug was that none of my drills had a chuck that could hold a .040 bit. My dad passed away recently and I had some of his old tools and, sure enough, his 60+ year old Stanley Handyman ¼” drill had a chuck that went to 0 and could hold the bit. (BTW my dad was an Oldsmobile man)

4) When I was installing the plug, I used electric tape to hold the wrench firmly on the end of the allen key. This positioned the wrench in middle of the hole and let me push in as I turned the wrench. I also used one layer of double sided scotch tape on the tip to hold the plug on the tool. I may have been lucky but it went right in.

5) The front clip is off my car. Not sure you could this with fenders and hood on.

6) This really isn’t that bad of a job but not a job to rush, go slow! I did it over 2 days.



I attached a photo of the “tool” configured for installation. Hope this is useful.



Thanks again to guys who did it first.



Ken

 

After needless time spent mentaly master - baitin & operating & only seconds before plug magneticaly in your grasp discovers its new attraction to cast iron , sticks to block & magnets momentum released grip & magnetism of plug to block & gravity ..friend / foe inspires plug to head for neather regions of cantseeitsville / bottom of pan / anywhere cept where ya could get it....
​​​​​PULL IT BACK OUT
got one up front thats lubin chain ??