I have always been able to reach up in there with a finger and rag or an
improvised wire thingy to clean out shavings and have never had a problem
in 55 years of various stuck/stripped oil drains and other crankcase
penetrations to no ill effect.

Jim

On Mon, Oct 24, 2016 at 6:23 PM Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@gmail.com>
wrote:

> True, but they could go into the pump, and that’s not good either.  Since
> there is a screen in the pickup it’s probably not an issue.  I’d probably
> do a Time Sert if this engine was a keeper.
>
>
>
> Stuart
>
>
>
> *From:* Jim Felder [mailto:jim.felder@gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Monday, October 24, 2016 4:05 PM
> *To:* Stuart MacMillan
> *Cc:* vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com
> *Subject:* Re: stuck oil plug
>
>
>
> The shavings will be on the wrong side of the filter to worry about, no?
>
>
>
> Jim
>
> On Monday, October 24, 2016, Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Well, I'll stick with the pump rather than introduce metal shavings into
> the
> case, and you can't tap that hole without doing that no matter how much
> grease you pack into the tap.  Probably won't go through the pickup screen,
> but being an aluminum alloy a magnetic plug won't collect them either.  A
> Subaru engine is going in at some point anyway.
>
> Stuart
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> mike riley
> Sent: Monday, October 24, 2016 6:00 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: stuck oil plug
>
> pumping it out is crazy. pep boys has a thread repair kit for ~10 dollars
> that has the tap and bit and stainless steel inserts to repair the threads.
> OR drill a hole in the plug and tap with 1/4" pipe thread and use a brass
> pipe plug that seals without a gasket and can be replaced for 50 cents.
> Suction will not get the heavy particles out. Increasing the effort and
> expense of the oil change does not increase the value of the operation.
>
> mike
>