Need advice -- oil galley plug, What to seal with? Options

[BillC]

I think I found the oil leak on the bottom of my engine. When they rebuilt it, they installed screw-in oil galley plugs. This one, on the front of the engine, appears to be the leak -- it was a little loose and there was oil all over the back of the motor mount bracket.


The plug is 22mm with 1.5mm thread, straight thread (no taper), and is fairly short. It looks like they might have used a very small amount of gasket shellac to seal it originally. They did stake the plug, and it didn't rotate, but it unscrewed very easily and turned-in just a little past the stake when I tried putting it back in.

What should I use to seal this plug? I'm guessing pipe dope isn't the right stuff, since the plug isn't tapered. More gasket shellac? Red loctite? Something else?

Thanks!

[BillC]

The aluminum plugs arrived today -- I ordered extras just in case, and next-day shipping worked out to 18 cents more than regular shipping (who knows what's going on with Fedex in Canada).

Here's a pic compared to the stock plug:


The plug is the right size and length. The only odd thing is the hex hole in the center is 3/8", not metric (9mm is loose and 10mm won't fit). I cut the head off with a hacksaw, and the result is about the same thickness as the original steel plug.

If I were to make more of these, I'd tool up and trim the plug down with the lathe, but that was too much work for just a one-off (I'd have to make a fixture to hold the plug without damaging the threads.).

I got the plug installed, and it looks like it will work just fine. I'll write up more detail about everything in the un-dapo thread (post #135 here: http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...d=3126262&# ).