Freeze plug question

[neil]

Hi to all, I'm new to this fourm. Currently working on a 1940 Plymouth P10 and have a freeze plug question. How many are hidden? I have removed the five 5 along the left side of the block and I understand there is one under the clutch housing. Any More? I have also removed the cooling tube behind the water pump. The engine seems to run well enough to go ahead and repair the cooling system leaks and put a few hours on it before declaring it bad. Thanks ahead of time. Neil

[TodFitch]

I think the one "under the clutch housing" is actually a plug for the end of the oil gallery and/or camshaft. On my '33 there is a cooling system plug on the block above the bell housing. I was able to get access by pulling the front floor boards. But they redesigned the block in '35 so my experience with my '33 may be slightly different than for later engines. 

[rekbender]

Hi Neil, I had two engines apart tis winter. Both had factory brass freeze (core) plugs on each end of the block as well as the five  plugs on the side. The brass plugs appeared to be original and were still in excellent shape. The steel plugs were rusty and seeping. I removed them anyway to clean the water jackets more thoroughly which were full of sediment. The bright steel cupped plug partially visible in the one picture provides access to the road draft tube chamber - also full of sludge. There is also one threaded plug with a hex socket on each end of the block for the main oil gallery. 

[neil]

Than know s so much for the information, I now know I need to go ahead and pull the engine to get to the other plugs. I also found a lot of sediment in the lower freeze plug area so to clean it properly I will pull the engine . Thanks again, Neil

[TodFitch]

1 hour ago, rekbender said:

Hi Neil, I had two engines apart tis winter. Both had factory brass freeze (core) plugs on each end of the block as well as the five  plugs on the side. The brass plugs appeared to be original and were still in excellent shape. The steel plugs were rusty and seeping. I removed them anyway to clean the water jackets more thoroughly which were full of sediment. The bright steel cupped plug partially visible in the one picture provides access to the road draft tube chamber - also full of sludge. There is also one threaded plug with a hex socket on each end of the block for the main oil gallery. 

Nice photos, thanks! And the location of water jacket core plugs is quite a bit different than for my '33 Plymouth block so I'll keep my mouth shut about where they are next time this topic comes up.

[Andydodge]

Any and all plugs that I have replaced over the years have been replaced with brass plugs......they never rust, ever........and unless you are getting the block hot tanked you cannot spend too much effort housing, cleaning, sticking long bits of wire in every nook & cranny etc the water jackets to remove the crud and unless the water tube is in very good, un rusted condition then get a new one.................andyd. 

[neil]

1. I pulled the engine today and gained access to the fwd plug and removed it, it was steel. I removed the clutch housing and located the rear plugs. Not sure of the history on the engine but it is not as sluged up as I would have predicted. I'm going to clean up the pan, replace fwd and aft crank seals and cam chain, install the new freeze plugs and back in it will go. Thanks for all the help. Neil

[61farnham]

On 14/05/2017 at 12:09 AM, rekbender said:

Hi Neil, I had two engines apart tis winter. Both had factory brass freeze (core) plugs on each end of the block as well as the five  plugs on the side. The brass plugs appeared to be original and were still in excellent shape. The steel plugs were rusty and seeping. I removed them anyway to clean the water jackets more thoroughly which were full of sediment. The bright steel cupped plug partially visible in the one picture provides access to the road draft tube chamber - also full of sludge. There is also one threaded plug with a hex socket on each end of the block for the main oil gallery. 

Thanks for posting these photos they helped me locate the source of the coolant leak on the rear of the block on my Plymouth.

Another job for the winter!!!!

 

Regards......... Simon.