broken spark plug = remove head?

[snag]

Tried the torch trick last night and got scared I would melt or warp the head. So Does anyone know what size tap I need to run thru for spark plugs?

[Ataristyle]

I had your same problem

Hello,
I had the same problem you have. I had 3 autolite plug that came out good and one motorcraft plug I SNAPPED in my car. The car is a '91 with only 56,000 miles on it. This tells me that whoever last changed plugs couldn't get that motorcraft plug out. The car was starting to hesitate on a fast throttle change. A good friend of mine (mechanic) tried an easy out on it. No luck w/ the easy out(not enough wall of the plug to get a good bite.) What we wound up doing next was welding the plug hole shut, drilling a hole and then trying the easy out. We had an awful amount of torque on that ratchet and were afraid it would break off the easy out. If that happened we would be F*CKed, then I would surely have to remove the head. Several time we tried different easy outs by filling the hole and redrilling. About 4th of filling the hole with weld we turned up the heat on the welder. It was nice and glowing when we welded. Redrilled again, put a easy out on it and it started to turn broken plug!! I was so damn happy at that point. What i did next was stick a small telescoping magnet in the cylinder head to get any remains of metal out. Alot did come out and I spent a good 45 minutes doing so. I would also take an Air Gun and create a "Swirling" motion in the cylinder while the magnet was down the hole. After I was satisfied with getting everything out I started up the car with (PLUG STILL OUT) and let it run for 30 seconds to remove the rest of the excess stuff in the cylinder. The new plug screwed in no problem for me.

I know that you have your head off now but maybe you can do the weld trick that worked for me. I tried PB Blaster( rust bust) every day for two weeks before I even attempted to get the plug out. The blaster didn't do anything for me since it was all carbon deposits built up. Good luck to you. I did see that white car on eBay BTW and was temped on bidding on it myself But I'm sure it has gone to a good home now by explaining the TLC you are giving it.

GOOD LUCK

[snag]

Thanks again to all who replied, I'm in the process of buying a house and everything has been hectic. Update on the car. I had the head off and was torquing the bejesus out of the ezout but it wouldn't come. So I started to drill out the plug bigger and bigger I was going to drill the tap hole size and try to run a tap down to pop the threads. I was about .100 of a inch away from the tap size when I bought a 4 sided tapered type of ez out. Walla, the threads came out. the metal part above the threads was however still rusted in. It took another hour of chiseling that out. I broke the second plug out trying to get the rest out as well ,however that one came out right away with the ez out. After that I did the happy happy joy joy dance cleaned up the head installed everything back and she fired right up. After I get done with the house thing, I can get back to working on her, the shifter has dropped and it needs guts in both windows. After its mechanically sound Ill hit the body. thanks again.

[Ataristyle]

Thats Great News!!

Glad to hear that all is good w/ the car! I did my Preventive Matenaince on my car over the winter/early spring. I got it about mid. Jan. Since it was a spare car I had all the time to mess with it. The mileages both for you and I have are very close. With that being said, you would think there would be few parts this car would need. YEAH RIGHT! I have replaced all kinds of stuff to make this car mechanically sound. Still would like replace a couple more things to make it perfect, but not too critical currently. As long as it can drive without breaking down on me I'm happy. Also it will have to make a little trip for me coming up...I'll be heading up towards your neck of the woods come Saturday the 23rd for the 99 Acre Swap Meet in Jefferson, WI. This will be my true test in what MPG I can get with this little bugger

My plan is to get the body work done over this winter. I also have a '93 that I'm planning on stripping completely for parts. I was kicking around the idea of putting a B6t/BP in it but do to that fact it is starting to rust a little, shys me away from doing so. Also I plan on keeping the '91 for a while to come so the '93 is complete and I'm sure something will break on the '91 while I have it...Good old 'BLUE' will be there to fix 'RED' then.

GOOD LUCK with the house & car. Just make sure you get a big enough garage to keep your baby in, heh.

[krustyguitar]

Dude try the torch method, It will work. I run into these problems every day at my work(junk yard) like buddy said the aluminum will not melt as quickly as the plug, you don't even need to be that carefull. when your done just chase the theads with the proper tap and you'll be all set.