• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

Freeze plug retainer kit is necessary?

Not to be a dick but you come across as a complete ******* that won't do their own research. Owning drill bits and taps is something you should do especially if you are building an engine.

I plan on building an engine and don't own taps.. Am I going to die ? jk jk. :-P
(wait maybe this is why I'm going mostly with bolt on/aftermarket, tho I will need a tap when drilling these pesky oil return lines for the turbooooo) :lol:

To answer OP's question, I doubt freeze plug retainer are needed on a b230fk. Other parts of the coolant system will give way first. I think some things are more important than that.
Interesting option on fully built engines tho. I'm speaking engine out of the car, rebuild kit ect... High boost engines will need them, there are some nice kit online, you'll have to buy drill bits and taps tho. Good luck doing this with the engine in the car... I'm strongly considering it for my build too.

Hey im European and French myself, however I do not agree with such kind of behaviors.
 
It would seem that I am... very... late to this party, but I did something similar to what linuxman51 and also aristg did (disclaimer that aristg has/had a B21, but the same concept applies).

[*]Freeze plugs have to be secured in absolutely every engine. I did not believe that they could pop, noone here had a similar previous experience, but they did during the dyno session, which stopped us from investigating the cam gear / timing puzzle. Mine were the old style 45 mm dome style since it is a B21, which were replaced when i overhauled the engine. The second cylinder's plug though changed its mind and wanted to escape, and so it did !! I installed new ones, and made some TB style brackets to hold them, while drilled and tapped the block at some reinforced points. Unfortunately the ready solutions were for the dished style freeze plugs, so i had to improvise. Hopefully issue is solved now. I think this is due to harmonics vibrations of the block or some freeze plug defect, but i would not like to see them pop again ...

35574618962_7f1814c28e_c.jpg


35703283596_6625ddd940_c.jpg

Cheers...
 
The early style Welch plugs suck. I also lost one out of a B23 and it was very annoying. I made a super simple retainer, similar to the one above and Kenny's example.

Also, this thread is ridiculous.
 
Hey I got one of those kits with all the tools and did it all to a motor here and I still got the tools. I will ship you the tools, tap and drill bit basically. I don't have the little bolts they is on my motard. How about 14.99 URO's?

16vracemotor1.jpg
 
https://zeligsgarage.com/collection...ze-plug-retainers-bottle-opener-clear-anodize

To crack open these beers while assembling your block

Just askin, for a first timer, how hard is it to drill and tap such kind of holes in a block ? Block on a stand, not in the car
You want to drill slowly with lots of lubricant, same with tapping, slowly, a little bit at a time with tapping lubricant. Wrap a piece of tape around the drill bit for a depth marker. Thanks for the link, I ordered a set of these.
 
You want to drill slowly with lots of lubricant, same with tapping, slowly, a little bit at a time with tapping lubricant. Wrap a piece of tape around the drill bit for a depth marker. Thanks for the link, I ordered a set of these.

Good to know about that. A little bit at a time, I can do this.

I like the fact that they are 3 points instead of the usual two.
I'd love to get myself a set of the Volvo logo ones, but damn, 37 bucks for the shipping... Mehh... For these little aluminium parts, USPS be like...

Please tell me how they go !
 
it's very easy to drill and tap the block, but yes, don't get in a rush. if you drill all the way through to the water jacket, use good sealant on your fastener(s), it'll be fine.
 
Nailed by the Euro decimal point.

Doh!

It would seem that I am... very... late to this party, but I did something similar to what linuxman51 and also aristg did (disclaimer that aristg has/had a B21, but the same concept applies).



Cheers...

yeah the pic I shared is for a b23 as well, customer's car. I was testing something in the driveway when that one blew the front plug on the exhaust side out (thankfully.. I didn't have to have the car towed back home and/or go look for the plug, but it made a hell of a mess). Some of yall probably still remember the first couple of run-ins I had with the freeze plugs exiting on my old car (for those that don't, it didn't end well for the car), so while I'm certainly having fun at OP's expense for being a dick, this is not something to just blow off and ignore, ESP if you've replaced the plugs.. it seems this is *most* common on rebuilt engines that have had the plugs replaced. YMMV and what not, but you could very literally be putting your life on the line with these things.
 
hahaha those are awesome

They are ahah, I'll figure out how to do some group buy for Europe or get me someone to ship them from the US...

I did some research on the matter, I haven't found much info apart from some older MG engines, is that a Red block specific issue ? Iv'e read that peoples are simply bad at installing freeze plugs + we all tend to run more power than these blocs were made for.

I would have completely went over this whole popping out issue if it wasn't for this funny thread, so yeah.
 
The last block I had done I let the machinist who assembled it install the plugs. I got about 5ft once the engine was installed before it spit one out. I replaced all of them with rubber freeze plugs like this, never had problem with them either.
4
 
Doh!



yeah the pic I shared is for a b23 as well, customer's car. I was testing something in the driveway when that one blew the front plug on the exhaust side out (thankfully.. I didn't have to have the car towed back home and/or go look for the plug, but it made a hell of a mess). Some of yall probably still remember the first couple of run-ins I had with the freeze plugs exiting on my old car (for those that don't, it didn't end well for the car), so while I'm certainly having fun at OP's expense for being a dick, this is not something to just blow off and ignore, ESP if you've replaced the plugs.. it seems this is *most* common on rebuilt engines that have had the plugs replaced. YMMV and what not, but you could very literally be putting your life on the line with these things.

Speaking of looking for the plug, when mine blew, it was a few miles from my house. I limped the car home, then rode my bike back to look for the plug. After at least 30 minutes, I found it teetering on the edge of the sewer drain. But when I got it home I realized you can't reuse those old style plugs anyway.
 
Back
Top