justin_o_guy2 wrote on 05/23/08 at 10:00:31:

Ideas yes.  Believe it or not we actually tried an ice pack on it the first time because his engine was still hot.  Antiseize might help, but those are some pretty loose threads anyway.  Just funny how you get it bottomed out but then give it just a tiny bit more torque, and it is seized.

There are 3 unfortunate issues here:

1. The plug is gonna be destroyed just to get it loose.
2. A new one is about $15.
3. I'm the one that tightened the @&*())*@ Thing  

The good news is that Stinger says his valves sound just fine now

don't know - but as easy as they do it think i'll start using a Quarter to tighten the things

verslagen1 wrote on 05/24/08 at 09:07:47:

The trick is that last bit of grunt.  It's a habit to just tighten things sometimes, but with the plug you have to be reserved.  When the plug stops turning, just stop turning the plug.  If you give it that last little "snug" at the bottom you can have it like Stinger's.  Now, I guess we'll just wait until the whole cover needs to come off, and then work on it from the backside too.

Another complication to this problem is that while Stinger's bike was parked, he got bored and did stuff.  What did he do?  He put one heck of a really nice polishing job on his aluminum cases.  So now, not only does he have a really shiny plug (that's stuck), but I have to worry about using some kind of brute force and putting a deep scratch in all his hard work....

Sandy Koocanusa wrote on 05/25/08 at 08:02:51:

I don't know if you can solidly weld cast aluminum...and you definitely can't weld steel to aluminum anyway.

I wonder why so many manufacturers use these slotted plugs anyway.

Here's a thought for you, don't weld.

find an appropriate sized pipe plug with a recessed square hole (you don't want protruding square biting your angle, besides it'll be alot easier to polish) have (or diy) the plug drilled and threaded for it.  Then red loctite the b'tard in there.  Leave it up just a bit and polish the hell out of it.

and use a new o-ring each time so it doesn't seat so hard. Honda uses a internal hex in theirs but I've not found the correct thread yet. Max

ok the new gaskets showed up today - going to open the right side again - and check this baby out top to bottom - might have let the cam chain get too tight - ordered in 4 clutch cover gskets and all new bolt gaskets for the head bolts - half dozen of the .003/.004 stick feelers and now I have the 1/4" torque wrench in my hands - goes down to 24"/lbs - was just now fooling with it seems to be right on at 60"/lbs(5ft/lbs) and 120"/lbs(10ft/lbs) - we be ready

Savage_Greg wrote on 06/04/08 at 14:34:55:

Actually it's lb-ft. or force times distance.  Slang is ft-lbs.  But usually the force is varied and the distance is held constant.