Replacing Pinto core plugs

[James Doulton]

I need to replace the core plugs in my 2.0 Pinto in my Melos because they are leaking badly after the car was stored for over a decade by the previous owner.

There are two on the exhaust side which don't look too difficult to replace if I remove the manifold but I can't get at the back of the engine to do the one there. I am not sure how easy it will be to remove the engine and to separate it from the gearbox.

A colleague (who has been building a Spartan for the last 35 years!) suggested that it might be easier to remove the body. It did occur to me that it might actually be impossible to remove the engine with the body on, because the assembly process puts the body onto the chassis with the engine and gearbox already installed.

My colleague fitted all of his wiring to the body, except for the minimum engine bay loom, so that he could remove his body quickly.

Is this a silly idea?

[1midz0wwbl268]

Removing any engine from a melos sounds like being difficault, i,ve not done it myself, but will be dropping one in soon, its do able i would guess, it depends on how much room you can make at the front to be able to pull the engine off the input shaft and be able to angle it upwards to get it out, how badly is it leaking,  because expect to have to remove radiator and hoses and anything you may have thats going to get in the way, have you tried something like radweld, replace the ones you can get at then try radweld to  seal the one you cant. 

As for leaving the engine wiring till last, thats exactly what i am doing  so that when i drop mine in, there is nothing in the way.

[James Doulton]

My rad is in front of the cross member but even so I have only got about 40mm between the fan and pulley and the cross member. I think I would need to remove the water pump to be able to get the engine off the gearbox shaft. I would also need to remove the mechanical fuel pump as it would clash with the lower suspension mounting. But that assumes that I can get at all of the bell housing bolts.

I am a bit reluctant to use Radweld because I am worried that it might clog up the system or block the thermostat. Have you used it before? It would be a whole lot simpler....

[James Doulton]

I'm really pleased because I removed the exhaust manifold, moved the alternator and replaced the two core plugs on that side. I then filled the engine and there are no leaks! I can hardly believe it. That means that I don't have to take the engine out or remove the body to get at the others. Suddenly I am on the home straight with this car. What a result.

[1midz0wwbl268]

Glad to hear that it worked out ok , did you fill with antifreeze or just water? because if you didnt use antifreeze when you do you might get one or two weeps from them , its normal 

[James Doulton]

Just water for now. I'll have to drain the system and fill it with fresh water and anti-freeze. I'll do that as soon as I can move it out of the garage. It would be unfortunate if it froze tonight so I'll put the fan heater on on its lowest setting because a frost is predicted here.

[1midz0wwbl268]

OK James, re radweld , i used it in the past to seal leeks in the block and had no issues with it blocking waterways, it relys on the heat of the water and air to set , and remains in liquid form when there is no air present   Anti freeze has a habbit of finding weak points in cooling systems its normal.and generally will seal up after a short while if it doesnt thats when to use a coolent aditive such as stopleak 

[allan wheatley]

other way of doing it what my uncle use to do in his taxi is cut a hole in firewall were the head is if u can and make a removerble plate so if it dose ever go u can just unbolt it and u have access

[1midz0wwbl268]

Assuming you can get at it, that is, on my melos there would be the heater to remove  first then you have to gain access to the coreplug so you would need a quite large hole to be cut in the firewall, and from experience from fitting the heater twice ,doing anything laying on your back or with your Bh at an inviting angle  is not very nice  then how do you actually remove the coreplug, because i dont see how you can get close enough to not be doing it at arms length .

Its a good idea if your car isnt fitted with a heater, and that there is nothing in the way  

[James Doulton]

It would appear that my earlier joy was misplaced - I can see a wet patch at the back of the engine and there are some drips forming at the base of the bell housing. It looks as if it is actually leaking inside the bellhousing which suggests that one of the core plugs is actually behind the flywheel (I haven't been able to find out where the other little beggars are on any diagram or picture).

The leak is only very small at the moment but once I have anti-freeze in and the engine is hot then I expect it will be much worse and continue to grow. Depending on where it is, it might go all over the clutch. I suppose I should try Radweld but I am not optimistic.

I had been hoping to get the car on the road soon so I could get to know it but if the engine has to come out then I might as well remove the body and repaint the chassis and rewire it and raise the steering column and redo the dash. It might not be ready for Stoneleigh... I'll try the Radweld.

[1midz0wwbl268]

Thats a bit of  bad luck!  ok, are you sure its not from elsewhere, condensation on cold metal etc, dry off the area , start the engine look for leaks, it wouldnt hurt to try some stopleak etc, it wont harm your engine  and may give you the summer to enjoy your car before you have to strip it down.  but removing a pinto isnt that hard, if you split it from the gearbox   you should be able to do it, remove the clutch and flywheel change the offending coreplug and re fit everything over a week end  assuming it all comes apart easily  and goes back in with no problems  so  you have a choice, either use radweld and hope it cures it, it should, or do a definate cure and remove the engine  

it all depends on what you feel is best, but i would try radweld first, and then change the coreplug later, once you have got the body off, , or if the radweld doesnt work  then you have no other option 

[Dave Adams]

My pinto emgine is out of the car at the moment i will look to see where the rear core plug is. i have done a clutch on my car twice and each time removed the engine and left the box where it is. infact if you look at my S1rebuild post you can see the mod i made to my box to assist in doing this. i also have recently done the clutch on a mk3 cortina where the engine came out rather than the box. sometimes its just easier to do it that way.

[Dave Adams]

P.S. i can remove the engine replace the clutch and refit it in 3-4 hours it really is that quick.