Removing a brass exhaust plug...?

[cajunfirehawk]

For whatever reason Kawasaki in their infinite wisdom decided to install a brass plug on my atv's muffler to remove carbon build up. My atv is a 2005 and I promise you the prev owner who is a friend of mine NEVER took it out to clean the carbon so its been on my mind to take out. I did some research on this before trying to remove mine and found that most people could not remove it unless they heated the brass plug up w/a torch. So I got my small plumbing torch out and heated it up after spraying it a few days earlier with some rust penetrating oil. No matter how hot I got it or tapped on it with my ball peen hammer to break it loose it would never come out so after trying to take it off with vise grips to no avail while the soft brass crumbled and fell off, in the end I had to drill it out. I would say 95% of the plug is drilled out but it still wont unscrew. So I figure my next course of action is to get a tap and tap it out, then install a new plug. Any other tips for getting the remaining brass out?

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

You should be able to collapse what is left of that plug and pick the remainder out of the threads. Once that is done, run a thread restorer (not a tap) to clean up the threads. If you try to tap it as is, it will be very difficult to match the existing threads.

 

[cajunfirehawk]

I was hoping to do just that but that brass acts as if its sealed in there with some sort of coating/sealant...I will pursue it further tomorrow after work.

 

[jrlp]

Use a small cold chisel to break the outside rim of the plug and collapse it in. I would have just heated it up, hit it with some wax, and use an impact to pull it out. Use some picks to pull the ribbons out if need be.

 

[Bruce Lancaster]

If you have the time I suggest extending the drilling job with careful filing...take whatever is left sown til you can see the spiral then go at it with dental pick.

 

[itsvegas]

drill it out and helicoil it maybe if there is room?

 

[Hetman]

Therad restorer is basicly finishing tap so just use a tap if you have one for this thread (and of course you know what thread it is?).