to be organised 484

Hammer and punch used to take out welch plugs

to be organised 485

An example of how to position punch tool on welch plug (thanks go to young bloke from autobarn for the tip). Technique is to hit the plug on one side until it swivels out enough to allow removal with pliers.

engine removed 048

Four (steel) welch plugs at the engines rear. The outer two can be taken out and replaced without obstructions, although the inner two are behind the large gear wheel which needs to be removed to replace these two.

engine removed 060

A rear welch plug with a hole. This is the outer left plug, easy to remove.

to be organised 470.1

The rear engine (inner right) welch plug sitting behind the gear wheel with two holes crusted up with crude. I was lucky to notice this plug was screwed, as I was contemplating not replacing the two inner plugs until closer inspection

welch plug 004

Stamping on the rear engine (steel) welch plugs.

to be organised 455

Rear plug swiveled enough to remove with pliers

to be organised 449

Side engine plug being removed

to be organised 453

Crude built up in engine.

to be organised 450

Crude coated on inside of brass welch plug

welch plug removal

The top two pictures (both steel welch plugs) show the severe rust decay eating away at the interior part of the plug. The bottom picture shows the exterior side of the plug, which got mangled as a result of the difficulties removing it, as the punch easily made a hole in the plug, as did the chisel; though the plug swiveled slightly allowing a flat bladed screw driver to be hammered on the edge of the plug enough to pull out the plug with pliers.

welch plug 002

Besides the rust inside my block, an inner lip is visible on the inside of the casting holes at the rear of the engine, an additional reason the rear plugs were so difficult to remove.

to be organised 462

Be sure to plug the oil sump hole if your oil is relatively fresh, particularly if you plan on flushing any built up crude around the cylinder bores and its flooring.

to be organised 453

There was a lot of crude lying in the bottom of my engine, I scraped some out with my fingers as a sample for testing later on. I estimated the crude build up amounted to a couple of cups worth of crude, so I decided to flush it out with the garden hose and used my finger on the end of the hose to create a strong jet of water.

to be organised 495

This is some of the larger chunks that flushed out and dried up the following day, which I collected a sample for testing.

welch plug removal-1

left sample I scraped out with my fingers. Right sample collected from ground after flushing.

Both samples were tested with a magnet and both were highly magnetic.

The 253 engine block were cast containing sand, which exits out of the casting holes (where welch plugs are fitted).

to be organised 461

3 welch plugs removed from left side of engine

to be organised 462

3 welch plugs removed from right side of engine

to be organised 460

4 plugs at the rear (only 2 removed here)

welch plug replacement 003

Use one of these with a drill to clean up rust, sealant and crud from the casting hole lip/rim prior to replacing new welch plugs. The engine is bone dry while I'm doing this, no risk of a electrocuting myself.

welch plug replacement 008

Before cleaning.

welch plug replacement 001

The engine is tilted to provide convenient access for cleaning the casting holes whilst engine is on the stand.

welch plug replacement 006

Cleaner, though still requires a little more.

welch plug replacement 028

Here you can see fine dust settling on the surface of the casting hole.

welch plug replacement 009

Use a dry clean tooth brush to remove dust from the casting hole, then apply some sealant such as the one I used called 'Aviation form - A - gasket #3 sealant liquid', which includes a handy little brush attached to the lid.

welch plug replacement 015

I laid down some newspaper just in case I spilt the sealant liquid. My tools at hand, welch plug raring to go, now wheres my hammer lol.

welch plug replacement 018

Sealant applied to casting hole.

welch plug replacement 019

Manually placing welch plug in sealed hole.

welch plug replacement 023

welch plug replacement 022

I already sized up the socket that fitted best. I used size 28 which fitted just loosely, however 1 1/8 is a pretty snug fit.

welch plug replacement 024

A little bit more to go.

welch plug replacement 025

I fitted the welch plug rim in slightly recessed to match up with the flow of the casting hole.

welch plug replacement 027

This recessing is a little more obvious here.

welch plug replacement 031

Here I am onto my third welch plug replacement. When your hammering it tends to disturb the dust in the engine and therefore I brushed away the dust each time I went to replace that associated welch plug prior to applying sealant.

welch plug replacement 032

Applying the sealant.

welch plug replacement 034

Third one done. I think your getting the picture by now loud and clear.

welch plug replacement 007

This is one of the four welch plugs at the rear of the engine, only two of the casting holes had this type of lip at the back. It made cleaning a little more tedious, though nothing to write home about.

welch plug replacement 040

Here I am fitting the welch plug into the casting hole with that extra lip shown in the previous photograph.

welch plug replacement 041

As you can see, it fits flawlessly, just as it was designed to.

welch plug replacement 042

A another view of the rear welch plug fitted showing it recessed.

welch plug replacement 046

I had an obstruction due to the way the engine stand was set up, so the two inner welch plugs at the engines rear took a little ingenuity to replace and as I am pretty keen to get the engine back in the car soon, I worked around it.

welch plug replacement 048

Here you can see all four rear welch plugs fitted and notice how the two inner plugs are obscured by the parts of the engine stand that bolt to the engine.

Welch plugs best friend 004

This came in pretty handy as a tool to hammer in the two welch plugs in the difficult position. I was fairly careful during the operation, taking care not to puncture the plug or distort the shape of the plug, although I had bought 12 welch plugs all up, so just to be safe I'll redo these two when I transfer the engine over to the engine hoist just prior to fitting the engine back into the panelvan.

welch plug replacement 049

The last three welch plugs fitted with the engine tilted the other way, again for convenience.

engine removed 032

Bolted into the transmission plate drivers side rear engine.

engine removed 044

Looped an extra chain around the arse of the transmission to help with removal

engine removed 047

While the transmission was attached to the engine, I positioned a wheel barrow underneath keeping clear of the sump and with the help of my old man, unbolted the transmission and then the torque converter donut.

engine removed 060

The reason for the engine removal to replace welch plug - Rear welch plug hole had actually sealed up with crude, which easily scratched away with my fingernail.

engine removed 048

With the doughnut unbolted, the engine stand was rolled into place while engine was held up by a hoist

engine removed 058

HZ panel van rebuild 030

I'd already taken carbi off months ago

HZ panel van rebuild 029.1

HZ panel van rebuild 032

panel van 2 011

engine hoist 2 001

The tackle connected to the engine isn't included.

engine hoist 2 002

Closer pick.

engine hoist 002

Unpacking the goodies

engine removal

others to be sorted 006

Shift linkage - from the under carraige

others to be sorted 007

Shift linkage - from engine bay (column shift auto)