I am in the middle of building my Flathead V8 and am planning on doing away with the stock fuel pump. I wanted to plug off the guide for the pushrod. I was planning on using 5/16" cup type freeze plugs. I drove the first one down from the top and it was a somewhat tight fit. But as I drove it further down the hole it became looser the further I went. I was afraid it wasn't tight enough to withstand oil pressure. I had no recourse but drive it through the other end. Well I thought I could get it out from the cam area but I guess not.

My question is, do I have to remove the valves and cam to extract this little item? Would it cause any harm should I leave it there? It is a short block now with the crank, pistons, rods, cam & valves in.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

Oh man, that's a dilemna. Is the cup still in the bore of the bushing? If so, turn the engine over so the eccentric pushes it back up the bore, clear of the eccentric. If it is tight enough to stay "up", you're OK, as I am sure the oil hole in the bushing will be above the cup (so no pressure on it). Otherwise... you know what needs to be done... and it will never be easier.

Here's what I did on my engine. 6 years ago I cut off an inch or so of the pushrod and welded a nut on the top of it, dropped it in the hole. I thought all was good, and have been driving it like that. Well, I went into the engine last month to fix a loose lifter, and found the plug laying in the valley! Put it back in, fired up the engine, and damn if it didn't blow right out. It was such a sloppy fit I would have expected the oil to just flow around the plug and out the bottom, but it created enough pressure under the nut to shoot it out!

The only reason to plug the bushing is to keep oil from spraying all over the rear cylinders' valves. What I ended up with is the long bolt shown below. The top end is just under a plate I made to cover the fuel pump hole on the manifold, so it can't pop out. I took a 10"-long 1/2" bolt and cut to length, turned the bottom inch on a lathe to fit. I made it tighter fit than the stock pushrod (about .045" dia.) , but not so tight it has to be pounded in. It is working well.

 

Yah, I would get that plug out of there, even if you have to pull the cam. I would worry about it coming loose and doing damage.

I made a plug similar to Ross's....only from hardwood. It's held down by the cover plate, seems to be working fine.