Should have mentioned that the old girl's got the 232, if that makes a difference.

Are the plugs cup type or disc type? About what size are they?

I find it hard to imagine Pioneer doesn't have something that will work.

The guy who's worked on the engine says they are cup type. He doesn't recall the exact size and the car is at the body shop, but I'll see about having someone there crawl under it to check the size. He did say, though, that he called first Dorman and then Pioneer and they had discontinued whatever size these plugs are.

If we don't find any to fit then he says our only other option would be to pull the weeping plugs out and then tap for pipe plugs--tedious, he said, and risky if we don't get all the chips out, but doable. Thoughts? All this stuff is way over my head so I just have to trust the collective experience and wisdom of the board and the people I have working on my car--both of which are considerable.

Another way, which avoids the chips in oil galley problem, is to turn a suitable piece of mild steel (possibly a piece of pipe)to a suitable interference fit (which is in all the machinist's handbooks), drill if necessary to produce a tube, braze or weld one end shut, clean up the turning and the face, and part off the new cup-type plug. Repeat as needful to make however many you need. Simple, easy, and shouldn't cost much more than tapping the galleys.

To tap the holes is a bad idea because chips will drop into the cam oil gallery and there goes your mains and rod bearings. To do it that way you have to remove the cam and that's a job. Make sure the plugs you make are only 1/4 inch long. I bet the machine shop tried to remove, or did and put them back in when rebuilding the engine. I have never ever seen those leak even after 60 years of use. Walt.

We are all super fortunate to have someone like Ralph Mordenti to help us out and (sometimes) keep us out of trouble.

Thank you, Ralph. I'm willing to bet you saved a rebuilt engine from an early failure.

It's Walt, not Ralph.

Robert, Walt--thanks much. I'm confident that this machinist has not tapped the plugs--he's a straight shooter, and he hasn't billed me for any time that isn't otherwise accounted for on the engine! However, it's always possible that something happened between 1950 and 1956, when I don't have a history for this vehicle. It's been in the family since.

Both the original guy working on it--the late Bruce Reilly of Lone Tree, Iowa if any of you might know of him--and the current machinist noted that there was an unbelievable mess of oil all over the bottom part of the block when we took the car apart. The assumption was that it was likely the rear main seal, and since all the gaskets were to be replaced the oil galley plugs weren't investigated further. The thought was that they should be good since they were always bathed in oil and they do not typically fail.

Now that the engine is cleaned up and back together, and the slow weeping is apparent, we have the hypothesis that they have always weeped and over 64 years (of which about 18 were driving years) the mess on the block gradually built up from the plugs.

Right now we think that there are two options: living with it and wiping things down with some solvent to keep everything clean, or machining some new plugs, as you suggested, Robert. The machinist I'm working with said he might prefer brass to mild steel so that the new plugs would expand with heat more quickly than the cast block, thus tightening the plugs as the engine warms up, but he said mild steel could work as well.

All this is new to me but I've really enjoyed the learning. Thanks, Walt and Robert. Let me know if you have any further thoughts; my machinist appreciated hearing what you said.

You can clean the area good and cover with JB WELD. Let it set one day and you should be OK. Most Hudson's leaked oil from the distributor for not having the correct gasket, which is a round cork, Rubber (O) rings will not work. Walt

There's something about this that doesn't make any sense to me. I realize it's a "seasoned" thread but I've been thinking about it for a while. There is no path for pressurized oil to reach those plugs. The only reason those holes exist is to facilitate factory drilling of the passages leading from the main bearing passage to the cam bearing passage. Once the cam bearings are driven into place, they effectively occlude the passage leading to the outside of the block, thus sealing off the hole. I can't see where oil would be likely to escape from those plugs. It's really not even possible.
See attached photos.

780) Inverted block shown. Dotted line in foreground indicates main oil gallery. Dotted line up to left from main gallery is the passage to the main bearing. Solid line to the right is the intersecting passage that supplies oil to the cam journal and the short line to the far right is the short passage leading to the plugs to which you are referring.

781) This block still has the cam bearings in place and shows the cam journal oil supply hole and the plug on the outside of the block.

782) Same block and cam brg. showing that the cam brg. completely seals off the hole leading to the backside of the plug shown in 781.

Have you actually witnessed oil oozing from those plugs during operation? My call is that it was coming from tappet chamber cover gaskets.

So far, I've had excellent results using O-ring seals for my distributors.
Frank

Thanks, Frank--I'll pass all this along.

I personally have not witnessed the oil weeping, as the car is about 600 miles from me right now. The guy overseeing the restoration reported the weeping to me and the machinist who worked on the engine. The machinist reported with regret that he'd thought about replacing the plugs, couldn't find any close to the right size, and let them be hoping that they weren't the source of decades of oil on the outside of the block. When he heard of the weeping he cursed himself and started thinking about plan b, which included my query to the board about additional sources for aftermarket plugs.

The latest news on our end is that the resto guy, having driven the car more, reports that the weeping has "dried up." He now reports getting a drop or two of oil from the front and rear of the block after operation. Now the machinist is itching to drive the hour or so to where the car sits to lay his own eyes on it and make his own pronouncement. Unfortunately he's been busy with other jobs, and hasn't had time the last couple days, but that goes with having a high-demand machinist doing your work.

We may be on a great big game of telephone here, with the least knowledgeable person on the line reporting directly to this board. For that, I apologize. I will reiterate, though, that I'm grateful for all these responses and I'm learning every day. Thanks folks.

If you can fix the weep with JB Weld, you wouldn't have to be nuts to do a whole lot different, but it would help.

What have you got to lose? The cost of the JB Weld and a spray can of brake parts cleaner.

I'd agree that if there actually was a "weep" of oil at those plugs, KISS, but in light of the fact that it hasn't been confirmed and my illustration that it is as close to impossible as anything could be, I think he's wise to do further analysis. I believe time will show that the oil was coming from elsewhere to begin with. I'll gladly admit it if I'm wrong......and hate every word of it.
Frank

When Walt said chips would fall into the oil gallery you must first drill the hole and it would go through the cam bearing and may even hit the cam. Then tap the hole for threads and you are in big trouble. J B weld is the short cut. Walt.