so i've bought an electric block heater to pre-warm the engine now the temperatures are so low, to reduce engine wear and fuel consumption. 100 euros, should pay for itself in no time. trouble is it needs to go in one of the core plug holes, and they're hard to get at. i've previously used a hammer to drift out core plugs but it's a bit tight behind the engine. car is a mk2 syncro so i can't get at it from underneath without removing the transfer box, more's the pity. so to avoid me having to hoik the whole thing out does anyone know of a cunning way to remove a core plug? it's the one nearest the gearbox i'll be pulling out, can it be done or would it be simpler just to remove the engine?
^^ cheers mark, i'll give that a try first. if it's nice and sharp it should be ok as i'l have to come in at a bit of an angle. thanks simon, if the above doesn't work i've got a flexible drill bit extender i might be able to access it with. wish i'd planned ahead really, i knew i was coming here six months ago while i was rebuilding the engine, would have been a lot easier when it was on the bench. EDIT: if anyone's interested, they do sell pullers and diggers for removing the core plugs much more easily..
yay! that wasn't so bad. i don't know if anyone else is interested in doing this, but i'll put a few pics up anyway. coolant drained created some space to work cabin gets warm at best - no surprise as this bypass valve was stuck open and full of fusilli pasta, so a mk3 heater matrix is on the cards as for removing the core plug, started off hammering in a bradawl, then whacking in progressively larger screwdrivers until i had something tough enough to get some proper leverage with. core plug popped out nicely. when hammering, be careful not to penetrate too far as the cylinder bores are just behind here. behind the core plugs there are also a couple of tabs cast into the block at 12o'clock and 6 o'clock. they're there to stop the plugs being knocked in too far when installing, and it's possible to chip a bit of cast iron off if you strike the core plug in the wrong place. you don't want chips of cast iron getting wedged in your water pump. the 230V core plug heater, DEFA brand, nicely machined, 400W i think. it's got a threaded metal t-piece which fits across the inside of the hole, then when the nut is tightened it pulls the heater into the core plug hole, sealing itself with a neoprene o-ring. i used some blue gasket silicone as well, just to make sure it sealed. all in all took four hours, including changing a couple of engine mounts while i was at it. just got to refill the coolant and route the cables tomorrow. there's a plug which will be hidden behind the front bumper, and an extension lead plugs it into an outside socket. i'll also be installing a purpose-made cabin heater from the same cable, so the inside will be frost-free and toasty warm after about an hour. the whole setup cost about 180 quid all in, but it's designed to last for 10 - 20 years, so it should pay for itself in fuel, engine wear and convenience before too long.
Nice work. 4 hours? Christ, it would have taken me most of that to get all the stuff out of the way to get to your second pic! Shame about the matrix/pasta, but good to find out it needs attention, I guess. At 400W it's going to take a while to heat up the block, but I guess you'll just have it on continuously overnight? I put one of the Kenlowe ones in mine a few months back, and I have to say I'm pretty pleased with it. Keep meaning to do a write-up... Fuel saving isn't what I'd hoped for, but I don't really do short journeys, so I shouldn't have expected a lot. Bloody nice to get in the car and have a toasty engine and heater-matrix though. Do be careful/thorough with your safety earthing, a 240V live shell would be a very bad start to the day.
cheers pete, going to connect the final cable up tomorrow and earth it up nicely. looking at the website it says it's between 550 - 2000W, depending on the size of the engine. it's designed to reach thermal equilibrium after three hours, and maintain a temperature difference of 50C from ambient. i was looking at the kenlowe ones before i found these, they look a lot simpler to fit than mine was.
