iweb

It was only 102 degrees today and my Commander is suppose to be here next week so I drilled and tapped my manifold. It went good, did it while the motor was running and used grease.

I put in a 1/8" brass NPT plug and it was hard to start and only went in maybe a turn and it was so hard to turn I had to use a wrench. Is this normal? It looked like the plug did not have a taper??? I also had a brass coupler that screwed onto the tap fine and onto the plug but not very far.

tbarbee1

Mine wasnt near that tight it hand turned until right before it bottomed out about 3turns with a wrench and it was done.

iweb

Plug or the fitting that came with the gauge?

JuzPlaneKrazy

The Commander come with everything needed. Except tools of course

pooperscooper

Did you drill while running and tap while off? Manifold hot vs cold....
If it is a cheap tap, they will not like to cut the cast.

Townsend600

what did you do about the shavings? I am about to do this and need a little help with it. I have never threaded cast or anything that really mattered where the shavings went. It can't be good for a turbo.

CReed

Coating the drillbit in grease allows shavings to stick to the bit and not fall down into the hole if they do its only on the exhaust side neways.

tbarbee1

The actual fitting I never tried a plug.

HarleyHauler

I tapped mine three or four times going at it slowly with the engine off. I coated the tap with grease as well. The fitting ended up about 1/4" above the manifold when completed, took about 3-4 turns with a wrench after hand tightening.

Suggestion: copper anti-seize on the fitting, just in case...

StrokeThisCTD

When i took my juice off i plugged the hole for it since i already have my autometers... I was able to fit in the brass plug all the way. i could probably even screw it through my manifold. fit just great.

iweb

I drilled with engine running and tapped while it was still running. I used grease on the drill bits and on the tap as well. When I run the tap in it goes in and feels good as far as going down the threads. I did as suggested on this site and went 1/4 turns, backed out, 1/4 turn, etc.

tbarbee1

THe tightness was due to the manifold being hot and expanding I didnt read close enough the first time and missed the "it was running" part you will be fine.

iweb

Cool, it was hard to make myself drill the thing anyways, thought a 100 times about taking it to a shop but I think I am alot more carefull than they are and they would probably do it all without engine running and wouldn't use grease.

Now I have to sit and wait for the Commander! I re-read the directions 4 times last night and I am still lost but hopefully it will make more sense when I get the wires layed out. I need a how to install stuff for dummies book thats written in itty bitty words with lots of pics.

jrussell

Keep in mind the tap is tapered since it's NPT threads. You might not have gone far enough with the tap, just be careful not to go too far so the probe bottoms-out in the hole. I know the few I've done always had to have the tap run in further than expected to get the probe to seat all the way in the threads.

scottsjeeprolet

Take the tap in about half way then try the fitting. If you run the tap all the way in you went too far. It is a taper tap and the fitting is tapered as well. that's how they seal one taper against another.