1966 404 Coupé Injection Restoration

2 minute(s) of a 255 minute read

The Peugeot 404 crankshaft sludge trap plugs are brass and have a large hex keyway. The threading into which they're screwed is staked, which damages the threads in one spot and so reversing that damage is required before they'll come out. I used a Dremel power tool with a dentist drill sized head to take the ridges off the threads by the staking.

The hex tool will work sometimes, allowing you to turn the thing all the way out, though it likely will be stiff as hell. In my case, this tool worked one in four times. The other three were immediately rounded.

So I took a different approach for those. I used a larger Dremel drill head to carve a small channel at each of the 6 corners of the hex depressions and then hammered a Torx-60 socket into place. Rammed it home!

Using this approach on the three jammed ones made removal easy.

I got a similar amount of sludge/paste out of all 4.

I find it interesting that the 2nd and 4th main bearings appear not to be pressure lubricated at all

8-21-2020

I dropped off the aluminium parts for vapour blasting today.

These are the "before" photos: