crankcase oil gallery plugs

[tonylanciabeta]

From: ladalancia  (Original Message)   Sent: 05/02/2008 13:31

Hi everybody
Does anybody out there know anything about the plugs that are inserted in both ends of the oil gallery on the crankcase.
I guess this will apply to both Fiat & Lancia versions.
I have an old engine that I am refurbishing, and since it is pretty gunky, I really need to flush out the oilways and in order
to have any confidence that it is clean I really need to remove at least one of these plugs to check for muck. I don't know
how they are fitted in the hole....how they come out....whether I can get replacements....and if so how do I put the new ones
back in.
Any Ideas?
LadaLancia.


From: Omicron   Sent: 05/02/2008 23:56
Old ones were press in plugs.
 
We normally remove the old ones, use a drill to cut through the carbonised oil and accumulated gunk behind them, then tap the crank and insert threaded core plug which are loctited into position.
 
Andrew


From: hutch6610   Sent: 06/02/2008 02:06

Andrew i think he means the oil galleries in the actual engine block.
This one runs down the back of the block and has four small "core" plugs either end.
They are like the old style "English" type plugs that BLMC, Daimler, etc, etc used.
They resemble a circular cup shaped piece of metal that expands as you flatten them with a drift and locates into a small groove in the hole.
To get them out you can tap them inward with a small ball peen hammer and "pick" them out
If i were you i would leave them well alone and wash the gallery out with some sort of solvent - cheap thinners will do - let them soak and then blow out with an air line.
You are hardly likely to find any real debris like an old umbrella or something!
They are probably unavailable now anyway and believe me fitting them is a real "pig" of a job - i replaced a set in a Daimler/Jaguar V8 not long ago.
If you still want to go ahead you could do the thread and plug method - but you had better have some rudimentary engineering skills to drill accurately and thread holes.




From: Omicron   Sent: 06/02/2008 10:18
Yes, silly me, didn't read the email carefully enough.
 
Yes, they're press in plugs - we have replacements.   They can be tapped at one edge to spin them round, then pull them out with a pair of grips.   New ones can be carefully tapped in using a large socket to ensure they get pushed in equally.
 
Andrew


From: betabuoy   Sent: 09/02/2008 17:52
If we're talking about the core plugs here then I agree with Andrew about how simple they are to change.  They'll also probably cost less than a tenner and when I rebuilt one of my engines recently, whilst the core plugs looked shiney on the outside, they were very corrosion pitted on the inside.  I even found an additional old one wedged inside the oilway from an earlier botched replacement!!  I'd advise you change them now while you have the opportunity.




From: ladalancia   Sent: 03/03/2008 13:15

Thanks for your comments guys...but pardon me if I have got this wrong.. but I believe we are now talking about the core plugs for the water jacket which are about 50mm dia and there are 4 off on one side of the block and 1-off on the other. My questions relate to the oil gallery which runs the full length of the crancase and has one of these curious plugs in each end...I could tap the hole that is left when I have removed the plug, I've worked in an engineering environment for nearly 30 years, but I've never seen plugs like these and wondered whether I could still get hold of them...If I could look at one it might make it easier for me to see how best to get the old ones out.




From: betabuoy   Sent: 03/03/2008 14:14
Oh those plugs...  I confess I have never removed them when rebuilding one of these blocks and I have been content that a 24hr soak in Jizer would do the trick.