Carefully hammer them in, using ideally a soft drift of brass or copper. A socket, about 1 1/4", I think worked for me when forced to work under the both of my motors. I had trouble with the passenger side behind the motor mount and had my motor in situ so had to settle for expandable copper/bronze plugs, but soon as I get a motor out of the engine compartment, it will be all brass plugs w Indian Head shellac. (Permatex)
Then get a donor anode to put in the coolant soup in the radiator to prevent it from leaching iron from the water jacket's exposed surfaces. That's the ONE compelling use for steel plugs, as sacrificial anodes, but this isn't worth the eventual cost of increased inconvenience from having to replace them at the worst times in my book. Both the 440 I had in my '66 NYer 11 yrs ago and my 383 in the Newport have had the steel plugs rust through. Using good antifreeze/anti-rust doubtless adds years of life to steel plugs, but I say go with brass. I had to use a sanding drum on an extension to remove the corrosion-welded remnants of the steel plug behind that passenger side motor mount. NEVER AGAIN!, at least, not on any motor I've worked on.
) My question is should i just pound them right in or use a little bit of black silicone or some sort of sealant just for good measure?
