Hey everyone,

Not sure if this belongs in the 385 specific forum, but since this is what I'm working on I'll post it here for now:

I'm rebuilding a 460 and, mainly out of curisoty, I removed the block drain plugs; 1) to see if I could, and 2 ) to ensure that once in the engine bay, I could drain the water out used for cam break-in, to replace it with coolant/water mix.

What I saw was somewhat baffiling; I remove the plug on the engine left side I think, it's located close to the rear of the block, and it looked as if there was some sort of blockage behind the plug. I shrugged it off as a casting flaw,and went to the other side where I could feel behing the plug through the center freeze plug hole. I could feel the indentation where the plug is, but when I removed it, it too had some sort of dark/black substance behind it. the plugs came out with surprising ease considdering it a '79 block, and the plugs were a bit rusted, as was the surounding block surface. The substance it firm to probing, but I didn't want to dig into it until I had some Idea of what it was.

My question is, before I take to the unidentified substance with a screwdriver and hammer, any Ideas what I'm seeing? Was there a factory "seal" of some sort behind the plugs? did someone dump a lot of pepper in the radiator trying to seal a radiator leak (I've heard that black pepper works but never tried it)? do I just leave it alone and deal with the water by adding more coolant once I drain the rad.?

thanks for your help,

-Pete

 

This is common for the block drains, since this is the lowest point in your engine block cooling jackets any "solids" that may be in your cooling system get lodged here and create a seal. It's fine to take a screw driver to them to clean them out, just be cautious not to destroy the plug threads. When installing new coolant in your new engine make sure you use distilled water and anti-freeze at a 50/50 mixture and this should cut down on the "solids" in the system. -Ed

 

thanks for the reassurance Ed, Will do.