Slant Six Forum :: Alternate seals for the spark plug tubes

Yes, before I found you could buy them, I just went to a hardware store and bought O-rings of the right size. I also put a film of silicone gasket sealer (like "ultra black/blue" permatex or other RTV) on the plug tube where the O-ring sits, then slide the O-ring on, then add a film over the O-ring where it meets the head. I reuse old tube seals, if not too cracked, by doing the same trick with silicone.

Lou

Why not just buy the correct seals, which are square-section O-rings? They're cheap and they work and they're not hard to get. Aren't there more important wheels waiting their turn to be reinvented?

Good call, Doug. That is usually the first thing I suggest and it slipped by me too. Not to say this will fix it, but if you haven't done it (or not lately) it can really help the engine's running condition.
Lou

Quote:

Again... If you have a solid lifter engine... buy a valve cover gasket and check the valve lash clearances.
A lash adjustment is always the first thing I do when tuning a Slant Six. All the other tune-up adjustments are based on the engine having the correct valve lash... so always do that check first.
DD

You can get a set of six on RockAuto for about $4 plus shipping. A little tricky to find by themselves since they're listed under "Ignition."

Author:	JukkaK [ Thu Feb 21, 2019 8:50 pm ]
Post subject:	Alternate seals for the spark plug tubes
Hi, I was wondering if anybody has had any succes of sealing those spark plug tubes with anything alternative to the OEM seal? I've noticed that the place for the seal in the cylinder head is shaped in particular way but, since the seal only needs to hold unpressurized oil for not getting outside, I'm thinking about sealing those tubes with right sized O-rings. Anybody had any succes doing something like this?

Author:	Dart270 [ Fri Feb 22, 2019 12:38 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Alternate seals for the spark plug tubes
Yes, before I found you could buy them, I just went to a hardware store and bought O-rings of the right size. I also put a film of silicone gasket sealer (like "ultra black/blue" permatex or other RTV) on the plug tube where the O-ring sits, then slide the O-ring on, then add a film over the O-ring where it meets the head. I reuse old tube seals, if not too cracked, by doing the same trick with silicone. Lou

Author:	JukkaK [ Fri Feb 22, 2019 7:11 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Alternate seals for the spark plug tubes
Quote: Yes, before I found you could buy them, I just went to a hardware store and bought O-rings of the right size. I also put a film of silicone gasket sealer (like "ultra black/blue" permatex or other RTV) on the plug tube where the O-ring sits, then slide the O-ring on, then add a film over the O-ring where it meets the head. I reuse old tube seals, if not too cracked, by doing the same trick with silicone. Lou Great, thank you! I'll probably won't use any silicone though, the O-rings should do the trick without it.

Author:	SlantSixDan [ Fri Feb 22, 2019 12:52 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Alternate seals for the spark plug tubes
Why not just buy the correct seals, which are square-section O-rings? They're cheap and they work and they're not hard to get. Aren't there more important wheels waiting their turn to be reinvented?

Author:	GregCon [ Fri Feb 22, 2019 2:00 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Alternate seals for the spark plug tubes
Yea..I gotta say I'm wondering why I see these called 'drool tubes'. They never seem to leak for me with normal stock type seals... It's a low pressure application lol

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Author:	JukkaK [ Fri Feb 22, 2019 2:51 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Alternate seals for the spark plug tubes
Quote: Why not just buy the correct seals, which are square-section O-rings? They're cheap and they work and they're not hard to get. Aren't there more important wheels waiting their turn to be reinvented? Yes, you're right and I will. They are not as easy to find here though. Just looking for something to seal them with temporarily, not sure if I'll find those kind of seal in the hardware store or if I'll need to order them by the part number. I'm going to replace the spark plugs tomorrow so I'll take a closer look at them and see if they've actually leaked that badly or not. I might still have some other issues though...I just found the problem that caused the misfires at light throttle at highway speed, bad spark plug wire (1), I replaced all the wires already but I still have a heavy misfire/stumble if I'll try to accelerate heavily from low rpm. I'll check the old spark plugs if they have any cracks etc in the insulation. Carburetor is working like it should (accelerator pump too). Either it is bad plugs or the coil since the distributor and every piece of it is looking very good. I also noticed that I have a ballast resistor but I'm not sure if they'll actually can go bad like that. But anyway, this was a bit off topic.

Author:	Doctor Dodge [ Fri Feb 22, 2019 4:56 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Alternate seals for the spark plug tubes
Quote: Good call, Doug. That is usually the first thing I suggest and it slipped by me too. Not to say this will fix it, but if you haven't done it (or not lately) it can really help the engine's running condition. Lou Again... If you have a solid lifter engine... buy a valve cover gasket and check the valve lash clearances. A lash adjustment is always the first thing I do when tuning a Slant Six. All the other tune-up adjustments are based on the engine having the correct valve lash... so always do that check first. DD

Author:	hyper_pak [ Fri Feb 22, 2019 5:12 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Alternate seals for the spark plug tubes
These seal are also the same as cheby corvair push rod seals. anything for a cheby is cheaper, right?

Author:	JukkaK [ Sat Feb 23, 2019 11:13 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Alternate seals for the spark plug tubes
Quote: Quote: Good call, Doug. That is usually the first thing I suggest and it slipped by me too. Not to say this will fix it, but if you haven't done it (or not lately) it can really help the engine's running condition. Lou Again... If you have a solid lifter engine... buy a valve cover gasket and check the valve lash clearances. A lash adjustment is always the first thing I do when tuning a Slant Six. All the other tune-up adjustments are based on the engine having the correct valve lash... so always do that check first. DD I did check them. Engine hot the intake valves were at 0.1 and the exhaust valves were at 0.21, i believe that this is quite alright. I also checked the coil resistances, primary winding is about 2,5 ohms and the secondary winding is about 10k ohms. The ballast resistor measures about 1,8 ohms. I believe that the other side of the ballast resistor is for START and the other is for RUN. I'm not sure what the coil + voltage should be when the engine is running. Also, I'm not sure why the ballast resistor is there since I have an electronic ignition with an old orange ignition module... sure it might make the coil last longer but these coils are dirt cheap.

Author:	SpaceFrank [ Sun Feb 24, 2019 3:23 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Alternate seals for the spark plug tubes
You can get a set of six on RockAuto for about $4 plus shipping. A little tricky to find by themselves since they're listed under "Ignition."

Author:	JukkaK [ Mon Feb 25, 2019 9:04 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Alternate seals for the spark plug tubes
Quote: You can get a set of six on RockAuto for about $4 plus shipping. A little tricky to find by themselves since they're listed under "Ignition." Oh, thank you gor the info!

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