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Aluminum Head Woes (no lbc content)

To: "Yahoo Spridget list" <midgetsprite@yahoogroups.com>,
Subject: Aluminum Head Woes (no lbc content)
From: "Brad Fornal" <tequila.brad@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2006 19:00:09 -0600
Friday, our 2000 Dodge Stratus blew the #3 plug out of the head, taking the
threads with it. Guess I got good compression, huh?
Being as how the car has the 2.4 litre with double overhead cam, this is not
an easy task. My thanks go to Christian Pascual, for offering to drive up 3
1/2 hours to help me out. My thanks also go to Alan East Jones, for his
advice, as it helped greatly. No thanks to the mobile mechanic that came
over, looked for 5 minutes, and said he was gonna go ask some friends for
advice, and never called again.
After 2 hours, I gave up on the mechanic, so I went to O'Reilly's. They had
Heli Coil save a thread kit for spark plugs. The kit includes a stepped tap,
that is fitted to the end of a 3/8" extension. It fit down the 8" deep spark
plug tube just fine. At AEJ's suggestion, I greased the tap liberally and
after each full turn, I pulled it out and cleaned, and regreased it. It took
a while, and once done, I started the engine to blow out any possible swarf
that fell into the cylinder. A little red locktite, and I inserted the coil.
Unfortunately, I didn't watch the turns too close, and put it too far in. A
few turns with a thread extractor, and all is good.
I know this isn't Spridget related, but many of us drive newer cars. If
anyone else with a DOHC engine has this trouble, I hope this story helps.
On a more pleasant not, I met yahoogroups lurker Terry Hicks today. He came
down to visit and see the toys. A great guy with a 71, that his wife MADE
him buy!! How cool is that? He is needing some help with the wiring behind
the dash. Didn't Paul Tegler have a colored schematic on his website?
At least the day ended with something accomplished.

Brad


--
www.myspace.com/tequilabrad




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