SPARK PLUG BUSHING WOES… (8199)
My Swift is in annual and the previous owner/mechanic must have used a 10 foot breaker bar to tighten the spark plugs! With sweat pouring from us, we finally got 11 out but as the 12th broke free, the cylinder head bushing came out rather than the plug. These bushing are brass and threaded into the head. The plug screws into this bushing. There is a pin in the outer lip of the bushing which locks it in place to the head. We ordered and received a replacement bushing but now the real dilemma — how do you get the bushing in and tight to be able to drill the hole for the pin? If you use a spark plug to get it tight, the whole bushing will come out before the plug does. You have to take the plug out to be able to drill the hole for the pin. Anybody “been there, done that” with these bushings? Any advice? Thanks, Steve Roth <stevenroth@aol.com> N2397B
Steve:
Those are “C” series cylinders – legal on O-300, but the O-300 cylinders had helicoils. With the bushing out, inspect to make sure no cracks are evident. Take a used spark plug and 2 new copper gaskets. Warm the cylinder slightly with a propane torch. Coat the threads of the plug with never-seize and the threads of the bushing with hi-temp locktite. Turn the plug in with the longest breaker handle you have (2 or 3 foot) When it is tight enough, one copper gasket will crush and come squirting out. Don’t reinstall the 1930’s pin. It will never come out, and if you did it right, never leak! — Jim
