I did a cam swap and just drained the rad and with the front end jacked up it stopped the coolant from running out of the water pump holes. Less consumed time. An engine with constant heat what do you think the chances are for breaking the drain cock. Ask Murphy.
If you have the heater core hooked up, make sure you open the control valve to drain out the hoses and core. I usually will cap one end of the heater core and take the loose hose and attach a compressed air line then open up the drain cocks on the block and use air pressure to push out all the fluid.
Ya I'd be pretty nervous with a ball valve or something...but I probably will do it. My plug takes an allen key and its all stripped. Going to drill it and re tap it next time its out. For now, I take one head bolt out and use a piece of vacuum line to siphon it out into a bucket...does a nice neat job and gets almost all of it out.
. The guys I know doing the petcocks are trailer cars, track only. It might not be the best thing to do for a 100,000 mile street car?? Even though the ones on radiators hold up pretty good most of the time?? I actually went & bought a 5 pack, but forgot where they were last time I assembled the engine. .
My car is definately not a trailer car, and have not had any issues with them for over 10 years. I did replace them about 3 yrs ago when I did a rebuild due to a cam issue. Growing up on a farm in Ohio all of the tractors, and other equipment had them in the block, so I started this practice 30 years ago and have never had a failure.
. Good to know, thanks. On aluminum blocks they are very common, that's why I bought some for my 705". That way I don't have to worry about nicking the threads every time I drain the block. I hate pulling the bottom hose because of the crank trigger & sensors getting wet. .
