I had a freeze plug fail on me today. The rear one in the head on my 383. Passenger side. Has anyone ever been able to change one with the engine /head still in the car? Just curious. I haven't given it a lot of attention yet. I was a but dejected and headed in the house. Thanks.

Dunno what room you have, but if you can get it out and as a temporary fix, you can put one of those rubber ones in. I would not consider that to be a permanent fix though.

put a sheetmetal screw in the center of it then see if you can lever it out

with both comments above. the screw method works but a trusty flat head screwdriver has always worked for me. the rubber plugs a good for a temp fix but they never seem to stay seated for too long.

feets just slathered jb weld on it, till he pulled the head. which was many years later.

I really don't see how you could get any leverage to put a new one in till you pull the head.

If the worst(to fix) one failed you know the rest are the same age, correct? Pull the motor and replace them all

Years ago that same thing happen to a freind of mine at the last race of the year in Bakersfeild, CA, 440 in a 1968 Barracuda, we ended up using a flat chisel and hammer to open a hole up in the firewall to remove the bad one and install a rubber one to get him back in the race, We bent and beat the hole closed as best we could He went several rounds that year and ended up winning the Division 7 bracket Championship in Pro ET several years later, never give up

No worries, I'll be on it tomorrow. Formulating a plan. I may be able to get a screwdriver in the hole, which is in the bottom, and pop it out that way. If not, I have some other thoughts floating around. I'll be headed to get a long clamp from Sears, too.

Mine let go shortly after starting a road trip. I made it to an AutoZone and let the engine cool down as I waited for them to open.
I bought some latex gloves and JB Quick Weld. I dried the area as best I could (overheating engine helped) before applying the pookie.
After a few dry runs to make sure I could get to it I slathered away. The result was a freeze plug completely filled with epoxy.

It held up fine.

That was around 2005. I pulled that freeze plug out last year and stuffed a new plug in it's place.

Keep in mind that an early B body doesn't have a very large engine compartment. Since I set my engine back and down with the late K frame I have about two inches of space between the head and firewall.

I've used a 3" x 3" piece of 3/8" plate against the firewall and two short 1/2" bolts joined by a coupling nut to press in a new fp.

Randy

I thought of that, too. I may have a lead on some better heads, so I'll keep all options in mind until I find out. Thanks!