MTFCA Forum

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So, ...I was trying to remove the aftermarket 'Sight Gage' glass tube thingamajig from the lower petcock port on my oil pan so that I could replace it with a beautiful brass Ford petcock that Original Smith gave me. A simple enough job, so I thought. To make a long story short, it didn't come out. What happened instead was the oil pan's female thread insert just turns around and around like congress trying to make a decision.

Would any of you seasoned Model T mechanics have any advice on how I should address this problem? I sure would be grateful for any direction you may offer. I'm hoping not to have to remove the engine.
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I had nearly the exact same problem a month ago. The brass insert is probably stripped like mine was. Try pulling hard as you try to unthread the sight gauge and I bet it will come out.

Joshua

Maybe you could braze the insert to the pan just enough to get the sight glass out. I would drain all of the oil out first though otherwise it may catch on fire inside the engine.
Stephen

If you can get the threaded stem out, using Joshua’s suggestion (I would grab the stem with vice-grips and apply outward pressure with a pry bar against the nose of the pliers as the stem is turned counter-clockwise), you can drill and rethread the hole and install a threaded insert with the same female threads as the new brass stem. It has been 10 years since I rebuilt my engine so, I forget whether of not the petcock holes are reinforced and are thicker around the hole than the rest of the pan, but if the holes are not reinforced, the thickness of the pan may be so thin that care must be taken not to strip out the newly threaded hole by over-tightening the insert. I do know that the petcock threads are very fine and are notorious for stripping out and leaking oil around the petcock. If there is no steel reinforcement around the hole and you are faced with a very thin area around the hole to thread, this can be remedied by using a tapered punch to fold in the edges of the hole so that the folded in edges can be threaded to match the male threads of the insert. Be careful not to enlarge the hole too much with the tapered punch. The insert should also have a collar so that the collar seats against the pan and cannot accidentally enter the pan. Don’t use an overly long punch or you can damage the magnets. Jim Patrick

Some pans have a separate piece fitted to accept the petcock. If the petcock is turning, that piece is turning in the pan. One zot with a mig welder should hold it enough to be able to screw the tap out. It can then be soldered in the pan to seal it.

Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.

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Here's a picture. This Forum will not allow me to post a video of the insert spinning around as I turn the brass fitting counterclockwise.

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I went with the "Romona T.B." temporary-permanent fix. High temp gasket silicone. So far it's not leaking. I will fill the oil pan up to the upper petcock until such time I need to pull the engine for other reasons. Thank you all for your generous guidance.
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These were inserts that were swedged and brazed until sometime in the mid teens. Then they were inserts that were swedged and NOT brazed for a few more years. Then they were changed simply to a hole that was punched inwards and the “bent in” steel hole was threaded.

The one you have is the “un-brazed” insert. There really isn’t anything you can do with it other than the temporary repair you just made. If it spins, it will leak. Levering around on it or fooling around trying to “fix” it from the outside could make it fail altogether, so you probably did do the best thing.

Every time I work on that style pan, I braze them in place from the inside.