HI,

looking for some important advice here please guys.

yesterday i was giving the NC30 some tlc, what with it being sunny in Hants.

the old man comes out to help/interfere!

"ill check your plugs for you son"

as he's putting one in (the one on the left directly below seat) i notice that the plug spanner has turned a fair few times (too many i reckon!)

so i barge him out the way to find that the plug is still in the spanner, however the thread is in the head

SOO. the threaded part is in the head but the rest of the plug came out, so its leterally just the threaded ring thats left in (so you can see into the head through the part thats left in)

how he did i dont know, needless to say the atmosphere in my house is terrible, im contimplating parental divorce!

the old man is saying "oh we'll get a stud remover" but im not sure he realises how delicate a part of the lump he's talking about digging into and probably chewing up

now i am sooo close to just leaving it to rot however it is my pride and joy so i want to get it sorted.

needless to say the old man no longer has a right to go anywhere near it/help sort it!

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

cheers guys ( he says, still spitting blood!)

Listen to the old man...get a stud extractor and you can ease it out.

It is not an uncommon problem with cack handed people..

If you are in big trouble, you can take the head off and get at it that way....and if you did have to do that, you can get the old man to lap yopur valves in for you as penance

the moral of the story is don't help people if its not something you know how to do well.
my sister nagged me for months to fix her laptop's headphone jack.
so I decided to surprise her and fix it while she was out.
it wasn't a simple broken solder joint, only the speakers worked, so I decided to do some experimental electrical mods beyond the kind of thing I normally do. long story short I killed her laptop's motherboard and had to give her my laptop.
my fault for doing experimental shit without giving a disclaimer first. "i might break it, and it will be your problem if that happens, do you want me to try"

So yeah, i think your old man fucked up. good intentions, reckless behaviour.
I think reckless behaviour is more bad than the intention to help is good.
So don't hold it against him, but he should make it right somehow. its a lesson for him.

I think over tightening of the plugs is what does the damage,it will stretch the thread,then when try to remove them snap.

dont stress, been here a couple of times.
So lets get this right, the plug has come out, inc electrode, insulator and tip ?
all thats left is the threaded ring inside the plug hole ? almost like a helicoil ?

front or rear head ? makes no difference really, if front, then remove the rads and make sure you have loads of room and can see it directly from the top.

Ok so lets asume its in the rear head, if so you will find that the thread is actually quite loose and will work out. i used a couple of small flat headed screwdrivers, and slowly started to work it out. took around 25 mins but came out intact. saves removing the head for sure.

also try using an old plug to use as a key to grip it and turn it back out.

large torx bit, gentle tap, unscrew, done.

Guys,

thanks for the quick replies its much appreciated!

CRM - its the rear left so thankfully not one of the fiddly fronts! but yes your spot on, everything is out bar the threaded part - although this is a nightmare sureley thats the best thing that could have happened right? other than the old man sticking to watching the leicester game lol!

righto then, thanks to the diamonds on here i now feel i'm in a position to have a go at this without causing some major damage (thats what i feared most!).

so i will print off this thread, have a go tonight when i get in and let you know my progress tomorrow.

thanks alot people

Zimm's right, something slightly tapered that will grip it will do nicely. piece of piss on the rear your lucky, the fronts are a pain in the ass. take your time and dont rush or stress.

I did the same thing on a rear plug too.

I used a pyramid shaped stepped hole cutter and tapped it in to the plug thread until it was tight.
I then fastened it to a cordless drill and SLOWLY put the drill on reverse and unscrewed it

Paul is right, dont stress and take your time

this happend to me once i just used a flat screw driver and it came out easy