How do you plug a hole?

EL1NOR

Member
Apr 14, 2003
227
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16
Hampstead, NH
Simple Question... I have a hole in each cylinder head on the side and a hole on the top rear of the intake manifold where a bunch of stupid emissions stuff used to be that I took off.....

How do I plug these holes?? I've looked online but I can't find any plugs made for that sort of thing. I'm just inexperienced with this... and I'd rather not go buy new cylinder heads and a new intake manifold just because they "don't have the holes".... :notnice:

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
-Tim
 
If youre talking about the EGR holes on the ends of the heads they are 5/8 coarse thread. I used 5/8" allen head set screws. Ford also sells threaded inserts that fit those holes but are threaded internally with 7/16 threads so you can mount acessories. As for the intake holes all you need is a pipe plug from the local hardware store.
 
When you guys say "EGR" I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm talking about this "Thermactor Exhaust Emissions" option that my car has.

The Ford manual states this under cylinder heads:

"On engines equipped with a thermactor exhaust emission control system, drilled passages within the cylinder heads distrubute air from the air pump to orifices in the exhaust ports. The air is injected under pressure and induces combustion of the hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide contaminants at each exhaust outlet ports."

I'm assuming that you guys have the Ford Manual.. if you'd look on pages 8-65, 8-66, and the top of 8-67 you'd have a better understanding of what I'm trying to do here.

I installed long tube Tri-Y headers on my car and it required me to disconnect two metal hoses that were attached to the exhaust manifolds and ran up to what I think is the choke on the carburetor from the passenger side. It's the little round black dial that is on the passenger side of my 2V and it says "lean" on it with an arrow. Anyways, I installed the header and turn on the car after the exhaust is all installed, etc... but now it idles really high. I'm talking like 1400 RPM as opposed to kicking down to 800 RPM like it always did. I'm assuming that those lines were vacuum lines but I don't know why they'd be attached to my exhaust manifold. When I cover my finger over one of the holes that the line was installed on at the carb, it sucks my finger in, showing vacuum. So now I can't make my car idle right. The kickdown isn't working either. And by kickdown, I mean when I tap the pedal after warm-up it usually opens the choke plate up and lets the RPM's settle. But if I manually open the choke plate it idles fine until I touch the gas again and it goes back to 1400RPM.

All this made me very upset and I wanted to just take off all of the stupid Thermactor Exhaust Emissions bull***** that I don't need on my car. It's a ton of hoses and pieces taking up space and an air pump taking up horsepower. But I'm not even sure if I can plug the holes on the cylinder head without causing damage.

Does ANYONE here know what I'm talking about??
-Tim

-I'll post some pics in a minute-
 
Yes we know what you are talking about and we already answered your question. See the choke thread you started for answers there, and just get some brass plugs of the proper size and plug the holes. It's not hard.
 
EGR stands for Exhaust Gas Recirculation, which is a system design for emissions control. An EGR system will run exhaust gas back into the intake, which will then go back into the cylinder. The point of this is to reduce the amount NOX gas emitted by your engine. The recirculation of exhaust gas back into your cylinder will actuality reduce cylinder temp., thus reducing NOX gases. Since you will be running no emissions systems (I assume) then all you need to do is what everyone else said, and get a plug (a normal bolt will work, just as long as it threads in) and screw it in to plus the port up. I like to put Teflon around the threads instead of thread lock, but heat will "release" thread lock (unless you get heat resistive thread lock of course :D)

-Shaun
 
pabear89 said:
:rolleyes: you can plug them with a washer and some high temp gasket maker.
You problem will be controling the engine operating temp.
These heads are made to have the air injected thru them to help burnoff the exhaust gases, and without the air pump operating the normal engine temps will rise.

Look for a set of heads without the air injection is your best bet.

PB

I am pretty sure that the air pump injects air into the exhuast system itself, not the heads. :shrug: You are talking about the holes in the back of cylinder head right??????
 
Actually guys, you all keep rolling your eyes at me and saying use a threaded brass plug, etc. But the hole is NOT threaded. It's a smooth surface for the rubber plug but a small screw goes through the center of it and holds it in from the far back of the hole. Take a look.

Bottom line: If I don't have to take it off then I won't. I just thought I'd be better off without it on there. And I don't want my engine overheating because I plugged up a hole that I shouldn't.

-Tim
 

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And no, the holes are on the cylinder heads... on the passenger side it's on the side above the spark plugs but all the way towards the front. On the driver's side it's above the spark plugs also, but all the way to the back of the side.

-Tim
 
6Stang7 said:
Hmmm, then that isn't an EGR port. What it is I have no idea, but can you post a pic of where it is.

If someone can explain to me how I can delete my old attachments so that I can make room for the new ones...? Even in "User CP" when I click attachments, there isn't a delete option.

-Tim
 
Go to User CP, then down in the Miscellaneous there will be Attachments. Click on that and you should come up with a screen that shows all the attachments you have saved. There will be a bock on the right of each. If you click that box, then click on delete selected items it'll trash em.
 
but that's the problem... I have all of that pulled up, but there is NO "delete selected items" button ANYWHERE on the page. Just "Show thumbnails".. that's it. Is there a problem with my account? Do I have to have a certain amount of posts or something? This is retarded.
:notnice:
-Tim