Most of you know about the potential oil leak from the head of the 2f and 3f heads (the plugged hole near the #5 sparkplug). Mine's been weeping a bit for the past few months, so I finally did the repair this weekend. I gotta say it was really easy. If you haven't done this, I recommend it. There are posts in lots of places about how to do this, and after reading nearly all of them, the process was pretty simple. Cost was about $30 - angle attachment for my drill, F bit, 5/16X18 tap, and an allenhead screw. Total time was about 2 hours, taking my time. Most of the time was removing crap.
It feels good knowing that this particular problem is takin care of.
bring that drill and stuff on down.........I got more than one that I need pluged up for good
lovetoski said:
Most of you know about the potential oil leak from the head of the 2f and 3f heads (the plugged hole near the #5 sparkplug). Mine's been weeping a bit for the past few months, so I finally did the repair this weekend. I gotta say it was really easy. If you haven't done this, I recommend it. There are posts in lots of places about how to do this, and after reading nearly all of them, the process was pretty simple. Cost was about $30 - angle attachment for my drill, F bit, 5/16X18 tap, and an allenhead screw. Total time was about 2 hours, taking my time. Most of the time was removing crap.
It feels good knowing that this particular problem is takin care of.
Swank - here are the best instructions I found. Written by Mark Whatley of course...
"First remove the valve cover, and the headbolt that the oil flows around. Insert a cloth, a cotton ball on a string, a soft rifle/shotgun bore swab, or some other material to prevent any metal flakes from falling into the bore. Then use a "F" sized drill bit (.257 of an inch) to drill out the short passageway between the head bolt bore and the exterior of the block. Once it is drilled, tap the hole with a 5/16-18 tap. An allen head screw can then be threaded into the hole until it is flush. Coat the threads with epoxy before installing the screw. Reinstall the head bolt and the valve cover, let the epoxy set up, and you're ready to go. "
The only thing I would add is that I had to remove one of the heater hoses (the longest one) because with my drill/angle adaptor set up I couldn't get the right angle without doing this. I just removed the heater hose where it goes into the firewall, pulled it towards the front of the truck, and slipped the drill in behind it.
I was a little worried about lining up the drill, to get the hole to follow the original hole in the head. This was easy to do as there is a bulge on top of the head that you can use to line up the drill. Also, the material used to plug the weephole is pretty soft (compared to the head) so it only takes a gentle touch to keep the bit drilling out the plug, as opposed to drifting off and damaging the head.
There's a picture in the tech section (engine). Great shot of the spot.
Pimp - I've been meaning to come to visit for a long time...maybe you can borrow my tools while I "testdrive" some of that amazing collection...OK, working on 'em might be fun too...
