Manifold Repair Continued.

Trying to Make a plug.

I have been trying to figure out what to do for a plug for the manifold. What I came up with was to use a chassis punch to make a plug out of a piece of sheet aluminum.
I thought I had some aluminum around here somewhere but I haven’t found it yet. Either way I will have to make a plug out of something.

Here is what I am thinking.

I found a chassis punch that will make a 7/8” round piece of metal. Just the right size for the hole in the manifold. The only problem is that punch leaves a hole in the center of the metal piece.

Here you can see the chassis punch with the metal circle between the both halves of the punch.

My “C” frame press has a 3/8” hole in the center of the ram that is threaded for coarse threads.
The punch part of the chassis punch (on left) has a 3/8” hole that is threaded for a fine thread.
What I am going to try, is to mount the punch on the ram of the press. The die part of the chassis punch will be mounted to another piece of metal that will be set into a slot on the base of the press. I am not really sure how I will mount the die but I have a couple of ideas.

Below is the press.

I will remove the plate that sits on the base of the press and replace it with a fixture of some kind that will hold the die centered in place.

The Connection.

I found a piece of a 3/8” bolt that the had threads cut off. I removed the bolt head which left a 3/8” pin.

The pin diameter is bigger than 3/8” so I will have to turn it down a little before I try to thread it. Then I’ll thread the bolt with 3/8” fine thread on one end and coarse thread on the other end.

Here is a picture of the parts. You can see the chassis punch taken apart and the metal ring that it makes and also the pin that I will use to attach the punch to the press once I get the pin threaded.

That is as far as I got on this project today. I will continue tomorrow.