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By 55 GLASS TOP - 5 Years Ago
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Brass or steel ? Thanks
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By Lou - 5 Years Ago
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Brass
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By Tedster - 5 Years Ago
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Steel
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By paul2748 - 5 Years Ago
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I'm on the brass side
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By miker - 5 Years Ago
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I’m inclined to use brass, especially if the engine is in the car and getting to it is difficult. It’s a little softer to drive in, or so it seemed. Either way I use a non hardening sealer and clean the block as best I can. On an engine stand with a boiled block, either steel or brass. I think brass is more forgiving of lack of maintenance (proper mix of anti freeze and changed as required), but if you're taking proper care, steel is fine.
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By Tedster - 5 Years Ago
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I have no idea, I just figured somebody has to take the other side of the equation.
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By Lord Gaga - 5 Years Ago
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Cork.
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By darrell - 5 Years Ago
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factory used steel.
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By Tedster - 5 Years Ago
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...that doesn't mean it was necessarily a good idea. In accounting, there used to be a term called the "Mill" which is 1/1000 of a dollar. If you pay property tax you already know about millage rates based on per $1000 value.
If the beancounters could save 1/4 cent on a part or gee-gaw, that was a big deal. Ain't corporations and horses built by committee grand?
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By KULTULZ - 5 Years Ago
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If using brass, you need to BRASSO them every so often -
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By Florida_Phil - 5 Years Ago
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When I first got my TBird, I was driving down the road one day. I jumped on the gas in first gear. When I shifted into 2nd, a cloud of smoke came out from under the hood. I pulled off the road into a parking lot. The motor was still running. I popped the hood to see what had happened. One of the freeze plugs had blown out and was laying on the frame rail looking back at me. I don't think the material is as important as how you install them.
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By 2721955meteor - 5 Years Ago
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Florida_Phil (10/1/2019)
When I first got my TBird, I was driving down the road one day. I jumped on the gas in first gear. When I shifted into 2nd, a cloud of smoke came out from under the hood. I pulled off the road into a parking lot. The motor was still running. I popped the hood to see what had happened. One of the freeze plugs had blown out and was laying on the frame rail looking back at me. I don't think the material is as important as how you install them.
I use papco 1/3/4 part #263-612 expansion plugs. just clean the car plug hole ,install tighten the bolt to expand the rubber. cheap and easy
i
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By MoonShadow - 5 Years Ago
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I've used those expandable plugs numerous times and find they work quite well. My Hemi engine had three piece stainless plugs with an O ring. ALL of them were leaking! I replace them with the expansion plugs.
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By Tedster - 5 Years Ago
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Why be ordinary? I think this is a good avenue for expansion. We haven't seen any improvement in these critters compared with say, spark plug wires.
The heck with steel, or brass. C'mon fellas, think outside the box! Exotic, rare-earth minerals are where it's at. Maybe a Vanadium-Titanium-Neodymium alloy, cryogenically treated and forged in alignment with magnetic North (NOT grid North).
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By miker - 5 Years Ago
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I’d forgotten about those expanding rubber plugs. I used one years ago, worked fine. It was still in the car when I sold it.
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By 55 GLASS TOP - 5 Years Ago
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Found some stainless steel freeze out plugs I will be using . Thanks for the options
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By 2721955meteor - 5 Years Ago
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55 GLASS TOP (10/2/2019)
Found some stainless steel freeze out plugs I will be using . Thanks for the options
good luck around the starter core plug
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By 55 GLASS TOP - 5 Years Ago
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The engine is out of the car ,naked block on a stand no trouble to access any opening
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By MoonShadow - 5 Years Ago
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Put a little gasket sealer around the holes when you put them in.
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By HT32BSX115 - 5 Years Ago
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55 GLASS TOP (10/3/2019)
The engine is out of the car ,naked block on a stand no trouble to access any opening
Howdy,
If I had a choice and the engine was out it would be stainless steel and brass in that order.
Now I am partial to those because I have actually had regular steel corrode badly enough to "pop" out on their own!
Aside from the fact you have to SERIOUSLY neglect your cooling system to get that to happen, SS and brass are a little softer and might stay in "better"!
Also understand that they are NOT "Freeze" plugs. They're CORE plugs necessary to plug the holes required in the casting process. They're not there to "prevent" freeze damage.
They ARE a great freeze damage detector in that if they do get pushed out because you either didn't put enough AF for the temp encountered or had regular water in the block (I.E. your boat has that REALLY COOL 312 marine engine installed) , the block will more than likely be cracked either internally or externally if you didn't bother to drain it prior to the the winter freeze!
There's nothing cooler than a vintage inboard with a Y-block inside!!
Cheers,
Rick
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By mytoolman - 5 Years Ago
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I am chasing a nightmare. My machine shop installed the freeze plugs in my heads they had machined This engine lives in my 1955 C600 COE. The left head has had this mysterious drip of coolant from the corner of the head right onto the spark plug wire loom block that mounts right at that corner...I thought there was something right there at the edge of the head and the block allowing that every 12 second drip to happen right there just a quarter inch to the left of the last short head bolt there in the corner....Someone suggested that I sprinkle baby powder to see if the leak started upstream somewhere else....it is really hard to see in that area . The dog house is removed but part of the firewall and the floor where part of #7 and all of #8 cylinder sit under that piece of the floor... mine are brass...make sure you have that ENGINE mating surface for the freeze plug VERY CLEAN. Make sure you use a soft sealant like Permatex Aviation. I SEE NO SIGN the machine shop put any sealer on. I went to ask the machine shop about all of that "We do many many many of these and we put only a very little sealant on at the cup end of the plug so you cant see it....I know That goopy sealant stuff is IMPOSSIBLE to put on without seeing some trace of it....not even a spot of it is present on my 4 head plugs they did. It turns out the back one leaks at position 7:45 and the front one on that same left head has a drop sitting right there....USE THE CORRECT TOOL ALSO>>.a socket is not the right tool a freeze plug needs to be put in ONLY with the edge of the plug making contact with the tool ....hitting anywhere in the center of the freeze plug will distort it and have it leak....if anything a steel one is better because it wont distort as easily on install.
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By Ted - 5 Years Ago
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mytoolman (10/9/2019)
I am chasing a nightmare. My machine shop installed the freeze plugs in my heads they had machined This engine lives in my 1955 C600 COE. The left head has had this mysterious drip of coolant from the corner of the head right onto the spark plug wire loom block that mounts right at that corner...I thought there was something right there at the edge of the head and the block allowing that every 12 second drip to happen right there just a quarter inch to the left of the last short head bolt there in the corner....Someone suggested that I sprinkle baby powder to see if the leak started upstream somewhere else....it is really hard to see in that area . ....
Total agreement on using sealer on the frost plugs when installing them. Another spot to look at for coolant leaks is at the turtles used to tighten the intake manifold down around the heat riser passages. The threads for the turtle studs in some of those heads do break into the coolant passages and if not using sealer of some sort on those particular threads, there will be a seep coming from there. That small trail of leaking coolant finds its way to the back of the engine and is very easily mistaken for a head gasket or rear frost plug leak. Those intake manifold studs give you another area to check out.
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By Lord Gaga - 5 Years Ago
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Look for a leak at bypass hose nipple where it attaches to the thermostat housing. A leak there works its way to the rear of the engine. Happened to me, drove me nutz!
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By KULTULZ - 5 Years Ago
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