Thermal Pellet plug is stuck in e shaft
 

ok so in my engine there is a thermal pellet plug, it has been forced into the e shaft further than it should have due to an rx8 front pulley bolt used. the plug is now seized or stuck in the e shaft about .250" further than it should be due to the longer rx8 bolt.

at first i could not tighten the short front pulley bolt all the way. so we shortened the bolt about .250" and now the pulley tightens all the way down.

i know this is dumb and i tried removing that plug, although i didnt try heat yet. the plug is aluminum and shaft is steel no not sure if heat would work

also I am not sure if its a bad thing that it is stuck. the location and length of the plug doesnt really block restrict or damage anyting so i may be good to go.


here is the plug

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...0665c2a34a.jpg


it is .250" further than the oem one pictured

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...34bf14b72f.jpg

here is my shortened bolt

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...7758a78f42.jpg



and everything assembled nice and tight

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...dd8095e6d9.jpg

And here is a drawing of how the plug sits in comparison to the stock pellet. its just .250" further in the shaft



https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...4a2c30a403.png

I know that sounds stupid. A longer rx8 main pulley bolt caused the plug to be seized. and its not far enough down the shaft. it doesnt make sense because if it pushed it too far down, then the stock bolt would work. but it was too long

what was the purpose of using the wrong hub bolt? as long as it is blocking the oil passage you should be fine.

I purchased the engine from a guy and it had the longer rx8 bolt in it

When i went to put the correct bolt in, it wouldn't tighten completely and the main pulley had .250" play

So we just took the bolt and lathed down .250" now the pulley is nice and tight

honestly you should just get the correct bolt. i have never tried a modified bolt but the sealing o-ring is there to keep possible oil from reaching the threads and maybe leaking from the front of the engine.

It is the correct bolt.

The plug is preventing it from threading in completely.

I could toss it on the lathe and cut it to place a o ring on

whats the update on this??

i'd bet that if u had put the pulley hub on there, the bolt wouldn't have needed to be shortened.

most likely, i've never had this issue but i also never tried putting the pellet and spring in without putting all the proper parts in place. you can't tighten down all those components without the hub in place to act as a spacer.

if it were me, i'd dig out the pellet and spring and replace them, get a new e-shaft bolt and call it a day.

this is like trying to re-engineer a screwup to fix a $20 mistake.

I did install the hub and it had a quarter inch play....

Also I did attempt to remove the plug, only with some needle nose pliers. It didn't budge. Im sure some heat would help.

I dont want to damage anything or put metal shavings into the shaft so i am just going to leave it. I dont think it will hurt anything being in there and if it loosens up later, then i will replace it with another bolt and thermal pellet.