Air injector removal help

[vick]

Hi gang - as part of a bunch of cleaning and projects I removed the smog pump and air injector manifold, lots of corrosion so cut the manifold out rather than u screw the fitting at each air injector. 5 of the 6 injectors came out pretty easily. The last one started but felt pretty tight. I went east but suspect I stripped some of the threads. The injector is partly unscrewed but now just spins and won’t release to come all the way out. I can thread it back in to fully seated but get the same result unscrewing it again - comes part way out, then spins freely and won’t release. I’ve tried leveraging it a bit to see if it would bite and thread the rest of the way out but so far no luck. Even with the heat exchangers off it’s tricky to grab.

Anyone dealt with this? Assuming I’ve partly stripped the threads my hope is I can get the injector fully out without further damage and there’s enough thread left for the plug to grab, probably some loctite for good measure.

Any advice appreciated

[snbush67]

Ok, I’ll take you up on the any advice appreciated part….; I say attempt to leverage it more to get it to bite, whatever you’re plugging the hole with will probably hold in there better crossthreaded with lock tite anyway. Don’t hold back on the cursing as you do this, let the cursing flow through you. You may further your chance of success by slamming one man beer, or three chick beers, in rapid succession and cursing in the language of frontier gibberish.

[john walker's workshop]

1/8th" brass hex head pipe plugs when you get it loose.

[smadsen]

Can you somehow apply upward pressure on the fitting while turning it counter-clockwise? Maybe a small vise-grips. Don't wiggle-wobble as you turn it. Gentle, dead vertical, upward pressure. Good luck!

[Balisong]

Good advice above. If you have trouble getting the spider tube out, well I had had enough by this point and just dremmeled mine into smaller more manageable pieces.

[vick]

Great advice all, just needed to hear you all say it but I’ll keep working to get the leverage for whatever’s left to bite. Glad no one said STOP! for a reason I didn’t see

The spider tube came out in pieces. Cut it at each injector and then a few more cuts on the main tube. Good riddance

Good to know there’s a simple solution for the plugs John, I got a new set of SSI and they came with plugs, will see how they do

[vick]

Update…not going well. Despite generous swearing and cheap beer this damn thing won’t give up. Threads have to be gone at this point but it’s hung up - won’t thread in or out, just spins and wiggles a bit in a groove that must have developed. Broke a fin too on the cylinder, just not much to work off of to get leverage.

Thought about cutting it part way down and trying to collapse it but the collar above the threads is pretty stout, can’t get it to budge on another I was experimenting on.

Any other ideas?

[john walker's workshop]

Slide hammer of some sort should do it.

[snbush67]

Hold it in place with vice grips and very carefully drill inside, be careful and go slow to avoid damaging the threads and head any further. You only want to drill the piece that you’re trying to get out, use just slightly larger bit then the inside diameter, then use incremental larger sizes until it weakens enough that you can pull it out, then chase the threads and remove any traces of metal scrap.

It’s possible to just lock vice grips onto the lower piece and start bending until that breaks and then deal with the top piece.

[vick]

Thanks guys. I drilled it out, snapped it off at the collar below the threads and then snapped off the part protruding into the head. Just a bit left in the threads, took a break so I didn’t rush and gauge anything in the last stage.

When I get it out I’m assuming there won’t be any threads left in the head - helicoil the best option to give the plug something to grab? Plug size is 1/8th pipe thread?

[john walker's workshop]

Probably will grab just fine. Just be a bit deeper than the rest.

[vick]

Originally Posted by john walker's workshop

Probably will grab just fine. Just be a bit deeper than the rest.

I’ll be ecstatic if that’s the case. Happen to know the thread size? I’d like to run a tap through to clean up whatever’s left

[john walker's workshop]

10X1.0. pretty much the same as the 1/8" pipe plug. Probably should leave it alone and just run the plug in. The taper on the plug will start it's own threads and then stop when it's tight.

[vick]

Thanks John, I’ll give the plug a try before I go further, really appreciate the guidance