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Put a New Hole In Her Bottom
The previous owner, an orangutan I think, stripped-out the oil drain plug threads in my crankcase. Oh me, oh my - Helicoil? A British poster here, Chris (Mowhawk), suggested a new-gen oil sump screen cover which has the drain plug located in it. It's a direct bolt-on swap. Thank you again Chris. So, after cleaning priming and painting my eBay part, and installing my new magnetic drain plug, I installed it. Then I bead blasted the old drain plug to rough it up for epoxy, put a coat of JB Weld on the drain plug threads and what was left of the threads in the crankcase. and screwed the old drain plug in for the last time. It was a-bit tedious making sure all the engine oil was removed from the crankcase threads. I used a modified toothbrush and lacquer thinner to get it as clean as possible. Then I thought, sure as spit, that someday someone might put a wrench to the old drain plug making for a very bad day. So I found a plastic bottle with a slightly larger diameter than the head of the drain plug, cut off a portion of the bottom of the bottle slightly taller than the height of the drain plug hex, filled it about 1/2 full of epoxy and glued it over the top of the drain plug. Ta da, no more hex head to put a wrench on. Short ride, no leaks, life is good again. Making a silk purse out of a sows ear - I now have about 4 tablespoons of additional oil sump capacity and a mini oil cooler cause the new cover has significant cooling fins cast in it. On the down side I lost about 2 1/2" of ground clearance.
I think I'm done fixing the previous owner's muck-ups.
Cheers,
Bill
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