Brass Plugs for Intake

[Neveragain55]

OK,

 

So I’m in the process now of hacking off all the offending appendages on my original 1982 280ZX ET intake manifold and I’ve seen all the threads and pictures of those of you who have used brass inserts to plug some of the vacuum line holes.

 

I went to several hardware stores including Home Depot and I’ve scoured the internet like crazy but I can’t seem to find a good source for metric brass plugs that will screw into the manifold.

 

Of course I need various sizes and I seem to have trouble finding what I need. I'm usually very good at researching & finding these types of items and I'm embarrassed to even ask but I can't seem to find them anywhere.

 

For those of you who have shaved down your intakes, plugged the holes with these brass plugs and then welded or sanded over them, where did you get the plugs?

 

Damned if I can find them…….

 

Thanks…….

Edited April 16, 2012 by Neveragain55

[SleeperZ]

Mcmaster.com has brass plugs in SAE taper, British taper, and straight threads. Not sure if there is a "Metric" pipe thread as I tapped my manifold to SAE. But maybe the British pipe threads are what the manifold is tapped with?

[cockerstar]

Are you looking to grind it all down smooth once it's plugged up, or just fill the factory hole/boss?

 

When I shave intakes it's a combination of drilling out the stock holes to accept SAE pipe taps and welding the holes/divots up.

 

BRAAP's EFI tips thread shows this method, here.

 

I took this demonstrative pic from that thread.

 

[Neveragain55]

Sleeperz:

 

Thanks for the info, I don’t know why I didn’t think of them before. That’s the same company I used to replace all of the original Phillips head screws on my old Suzuki GS750E years ago when I restored her.

 

I ditched the crappy Phillips head screws for new stainless steel hex head bolts. I’ll go on their web site and give them a try, thanks…..

 

Cockerstar:

 

I wanted to avoid the drilling tapping bit if I could and just screw brass inserts into the existing threaded holes, and then sand everything down flush. It’s not that big of a deal if I have to go that route but it sure would be nice just to screw some inserts down into those holes and then sand down the raised area to be flush with the rest of the housing.

 

I’m going to try the web site that Sleeperz mentioned and see if they have what I need. The picture of the manifold you attached is the desired affect I’m looking for.

[Leon]

I believe all pipe threads on a stock Z-car are BSPT, but someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[Tony D]

I tapped mine with an NPT Tap.

I then used an NPT Die run over appropriately sized Aluminum Rod, put some loctite green on it, tightened it in till I felt it galling and sawed it off.

Smooth and run forever.

 

Brass? Pffft!

 

They will never see that aluminum plug after some road salt/corrosion normalizes the area!

[Neveragain55]

Here’s what I’ve accomplished so far:

 

I kept all of the emission equipment that I took off the manifold when I stripped it down.

 

I have all of the plumbing that threads properly down into the threaded holes that I want to delete.

 

I have a thread sizing tool but it’s too small for these diameters so I plan on buying a larger one (gonna need it in the future so I might as well) and get the proper pitch and thread dimensions.

 

I did find some on McMaster & Carr but now I have to know what sizes I need before I can go any further.

 

Once I have those dimensions I’m going to order the plugs and screw them down into the holes – and then commence again with the cutting, hacking blending & smoothing until the entire surface is flush.

 

It doesn’t matter to me whether the plugs are aluminum, brass or copper as long as they seal.

 

 

Thanks everybody…….

Edited April 16, 2012 by Neveragain55

[LanceVance]

Once I have those dimensions I’m going to order the plugs and screw them down into the holes – and then commence again with the cutting, hacking blending & smoothing until the entire surface is flush.

 

That kind of information could be useful for a variety of reasons. If you have the time to illustrate each port in the manifold, and included the size/pitch if the factory threads, I'm sure you'd be helping people down the road if you took the time to post it up. Which manifold are you using?

[Neveragain55]

Most definitely, and you are 1,000.000% right……

 

Once I have all the sizes I plan on making a PowerPoint of everything with the holes marked and the correlating sizes, turn that into a jpeg, and then posting it.

 

Very good point and it’s very much appreciated….

[Neveragain55]

This is what I’ve come up with so far regarding the sizes of the holes in the intake manifold.

 

I’ll attach a picture that started out as a PowerPoint slide labeled with the sizes of the holes.

 

If any of you find or know of any of the sizes to be incorrect, please let me know and I will revise and re-post it.

 

Once we have this thing nailed down, people in the future looking to modify their manifold by shaving & filling it will know exactly what they need.

 

 

 

Thanks gang, and I hope this helps others…..

Edited April 21, 2012 by Neveragain55

[HowlerMonkey]

Any of you guys tried the aluminum brazing rod(aladdin rod)?

 

I will try it later this week.

Edited April 24, 2012 by HowlerMonkey

[Neveragain55]

It looks like the same thing as Alumiweld, right down to the packaging and everything.

 

Funny you should post this today because I asked a Heat Treat, Metallurgist engineer here at work about Alumiweld earlier, and after reading about all the properties & sheer tensile strengths from their web site he told me that it would more than do the job of covering and sealing up anything on these intake manifolds.

 

The thing is there isn’t a great deal or pressure involved here. I know aficionados will cringe when I say this but honestly JB Weld would seal up some of the smaller orifices as well.

 

I’m not advocating you or anybody for that matter does that, but in a pinch………….

 

I still have more hacking and sanding to do before I get to that point so unfortunately I can’t speak to the success or failure of either Alumiweld or the Aladdin product but if you use this stuff anytime soon, please do post back with the results.

 

As far as my brass plug issue, believe it or not. After spending dozens of hours on the internet looking for metric brass plugs, I wound up going down the local Ace Hardware store and bought some metric, steel, hex hole pipe plugs and they fit beautifully.

 

Their more difficult to cut through than brass but at least all the holes are tightly plugged up.

 

Website for Alumiweld: http://www.alumiweld.com/

Edited April 24, 2012 by Neveragain55

[HowlerMonkey]

The aladdin came out in 1929.

 

I can actually cover holes up to 1/4 inch without filling them using the aluminum brazing rod from harbor freight........which is a probably a chinese copy......but it works fine.

 

Just make sure the surface is clean.

 

I've also repaired nicks in props with it.

[Neveragain55]

Thanks for the tips….

 

I’ll be getting the Alumiweld very soon to cover up all of the vacuum holes and attachment points I hacked off.

 

The biggest of these that needs to be filled in were where the AAC, EGR, and air regulator formerly resided.

 

One or two of these holes are bigger than ¼ inch in diameter so what I’m planning on doing is placing a piece of aluminum sheet on the backside of the opening (inside the manifold), brace it up, tack weld it in place, and basically just fill everything in from the top side with the Alumiweld.

 

I’m taking pictures of everything as I go along and when it’s complete I’ll provide a new thread with a complete write up.

 

Good luck with your set up……….