Make It Aluminum They Said - This is It

It dawned on me while I was working on the Grand Marquis yesterday that I hadn't posted a picture of the repair kit I was using.  Let me remedy that now.

You can see the tap in the top slot of the case. Right below that is the bore that hogs out the original hole, and there were still four of the eight threaded sleeves in the case when I snapped this pic.  All eight are now installed in the engine.  Also there's a guide (somehow I missed it in the picture) that slides into the spark plug hole in the head. It's entire reason for being is to keep the bore and the tap in proper alignment while they are doing their jobs. 

There's a step using a rubber stopper and compressed air to ensure that the valves are closed to keep the shavings in the cylinder. Once the boring and tapping were done, I spent about 5 minutes blowing compressed air into the cylinder to clear all of the aluminum shavings. At least I hope I got them all, or at least 99.99% of them.  

Anyway, all 8 cylinders now have threaded steel sleeves with full contact with all the threads on the plugs instead of the 2 or 3 threads from the original design.  If it throws a plug now, that will be the least of my troubles at that point.  

Next time it breaks it's either going to the junk yard or being sold for parts.

Until next time, be good, and if you can't be good, be sneaky.

Wayne