SPARK PLUGS OUT!!! Well.... Sort of....
TECH Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 6,080
Likes: 17
From: So.Cal.
yea... the passenger head is a little tough, but I don't have any of my AIR/EGR stuff anymore so that helped quite a bit...
as far as the tints go, I'm not really seeing them, but no guys, I'm not using any fuel additives... just plain 'ole 91 octane from chevron with techron
as far as the tints go, I'm not really seeing them, but no guys, I'm not using any fuel additives... just plain 'ole 91 octane from chevron with techron
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 606
Likes: 0
heh, sucks to hear that, hopefully everything goes fine in the repairs. We accidentally broke a header bolt flush with the head and we paid a guy to remove it who does this type of thing exclusively (broken bolts/studs/plugs/etc), did it in about 1 1/2 hours. But the tools this guy had...wow, he said a lot of it was aviation and marine stuff.
he said the worse job ever was a guy had broken a bolt in an aluminum head, tried to remove it with an E-Z out, broke the E-Z out then heated the head up. took him 2 days...
he said the worse job ever was a guy had broken a bolt in an aluminum head, tried to remove it with an E-Z out, broke the E-Z out then heated the head up. took him 2 days...
^^WOW!
well.... good news!!!!!!! I brought the head to the machine shop today and dropped it off.... 15 minutes later I get a call. "wes, your head is ready!" i was like "WTF!?!?! Already?!?!?!!!!"
went back and picked it up... he was able to pull the 2 spark plug threads out with an easy out... he said after he leaned into it a bit, they popped and came out without damaging my threads...
he also mentioned that the reason the spark plug was stuck in there was because they have a taper on the end of the plug, which in turn, made it get stuck in the head. He said that it had anti-seize on it, and to try and get replacement plugs that have a nice flat mateing surface with the head, so they don't get stuck again... kinda hard to explain, but I've got the plugs and will take pics against the type of plug he recommended...
well.... good news!!!!!!! I brought the head to the machine shop today and dropped it off.... 15 minutes later I get a call. "wes, your head is ready!" i was like "WTF!?!?! Already?!?!?!!!!"
went back and picked it up... he was able to pull the 2 spark plug threads out with an easy out... he said after he leaned into it a bit, they popped and came out without damaging my threads...
he also mentioned that the reason the spark plug was stuck in there was because they have a taper on the end of the plug, which in turn, made it get stuck in the head. He said that it had anti-seize on it, and to try and get replacement plugs that have a nice flat mateing surface with the head, so they don't get stuck again... kinda hard to explain, but I've got the plugs and will take pics against the type of plug he recommended...
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TECH Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 6,080
Likes: 17
From: So.Cal.
...
he also mentioned that the reason the spark plug was stuck in there was because they have a taper on the end of the plug, which in turn, made it get stuck in the head. He said that it had anti-seize on it, and to try and get replacement plugs that have a nice flat mateing surface with the head, so they don't get stuck again... kinda hard to explain, but I've got the plugs and will take pics against the type of plug he recommended...
he also mentioned that the reason the spark plug was stuck in there was because they have a taper on the end of the plug, which in turn, made it get stuck in the head. He said that it had anti-seize on it, and to try and get replacement plugs that have a nice flat mateing surface with the head, so they don't get stuck again... kinda hard to explain, but I've got the plugs and will take pics against the type of plug he recommended...
I thought the seating surface of the hole was supposed to be tapered on this head for this motor.
The spark plugs you used are designed for a tapered seat.
Staging Lane
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 51
Likes: 0
From: Suffolk, NY
Thats not even remotely close to true and this goes for all metals. Of course different metals have different expsansion rates, but that does not mean the spark plug hole is going to shrink. Not sure where you got that info from.
Lets see a pic of you head with the spark plug threads in them. When you bring your head into a machine shop tell them you would like 2 more heli-coils installed lol!
Lets see a pic of you head with the spark plug threads in them. When you bring your head into a machine shop tell them you would like 2 more heli-coils installed lol!
Metal expands with heat, the spark plug hole gets bigger, but at the same time the threads in the head also expand and this is why your plug gets tight The plug gets tight on the threads not from the minor diameter of the plug hole shrinking. Glad they got the threads cleaned up for you.
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 391
Likes: 0
From: Mesa, AZ
Metal expands with heat, the spark plug hole gets bigger, but at the same time the threads in the head also expand and this is why your plug gets tight The plug gets tight on the threads not from the minor diameter of the plug hole shrinking. Glad they got the threads cleaned up for you.
However, like was also mentioned, which we seemed to glance over in the other thread, was that the expansion also occurs through the thickness of the heads/spark plugs, and essentially changes the thread pitch of the head/plug, possibly binding the threads (there are a couple more factors... but for all intents and purposes, it would probably bind the threads) until the expansion was enough that the plug would just slide out (probably a much higher heat than the engine sees).
Try screwing a 1/4 x 20tpi machine screw into a 1/4 x 16tpi tapped hole, and that's effectively what you're trying to do pulling a hot spark plug.
