Water jacket plug replacement

Unknown

The core plugs on the side of my 262 have developed a leak. Dave Kostanek sent me replacements, but failed to send along the installation instructions that I begged him for. The manual calls for using a light coat of "Hudson Perfect Seal Paste" which I'm sure is in great supply at Autozone. I assume any high temp sealant will do. Also, since I don't have "Water Jacket Plug Installer J-2793, do I use a rubber mallet or hammer to tap the new plugs in. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Jason

Geoff

A light smear of high-temp silicone, or any other non-hardening sealer will do the job. In fact, you probably don't need any sealer at all, but better to be safe than sorry. I recommend using brass plugs instead of steel, then once fitted you can forget about them ever corroding again. Make sure the hole is thoroughly cleaned of grit, rust, oil or rust. A rubber hammer is too resilient to use, it will just bounce. I use a piece exhaust tubing about 4 inches long, which just fits inside the plug does the job for installation, but you must hit it straight on to get the plug to enter cleanly. A piece of flat 1/4" steel held over the end of the tube is handy, but you need a helper probably to hit this or you run out of hands! Use a decent sized hammer for this job. Drive the plug in until it is level with the block. Good luck,

Geoff.

Club Coupe

You can also use a socket or a solid wooden dowel to seat the plug. As Geoff said; clean, clean, clean the holes of any foreign material. Use a good steel head hammer at least 22 oz. and triple check the alignment before hitting. Brass is best and if that's not what you have, you might want to consider buying brass plugs and using them instead of whatever you now have.