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The packard was waiting for me to fix the parking brake in my other P-car, which developed a lot of "while you're in there, ya might as well fix xyz plus pdq"
Now back to the clipper! A 4 lb slide pull hammer took the leaking plug out easily. Here is the cut that may be the cause of my latest leak. It is about 30 thou inch at the deepest part.
Wondering if I should fill that with jb-weld before installing the new plug?

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I generally install them with any Loctite that happens to be at my elbow at that moment as it is all to the good over bare steel on iron. I'm pretty sure if you use some medium threadlocker and push the plug in a hair further than usual you will have no troubles.

Thanks Ross. I used loctite 243. I gave the freeze plug a whack on the backside with the plug face down on the floor to squeeze it a hair bigger, then drove it in with a big socket so that all the force driving it into the block was applied to the outside of the plug. I also drove it in a little deeper than the other plugs.
I also installed a petcock to drain the block. Hope I dont need to drain the coolant for a few years now.
I will wait a few days for the loctite to dry before adding coolant back in the engine.
Cross your fingers that there are no leaks!

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Good information and one hellava image too.

Was 53 the only year for the ruby red gauges? I have a spare 51 gauge cluster and I painted the fuel and temp gauges with a clear red. Now I just have to cut out some white tape to recreate the triangles on the gauges....
I was expecting to find red behind the gauge faces when I took this apart, but it looks grey.

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Yes, 53 was the only year for ruby. The greys used in 51 and 2 and the blues used in 53 seniors and some 54s was very colorfast.

Thanks Ross. I will just clean this spare gauge cluster and not paint anything else ruby then. Taking apart and painting these fuel and temp gauges is practice for doing the ones I have in my car now.
Oh, and I did a little quick research. No need to wait for loctite to "dry" because it doesn't dry in air! It cures anerobicaly when exposed to certain metals....Guess I will fill my cooling system back up and see if she "holds water".

Holding water for one day now. Hope to be driving soon and can test if the freeze plug holds the 7lbs pressure from the radiator cap.
Here are 2 pics of the new additions.

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From the internet:

When properly used about 24 hours will give it time to cure completely. Must be in an area absent of oxygen to cure properly. As others said, ~24 hours for full cure/strength. Howsomever, to work as designed to, Loctite requires the parts it's used on to be clean and free of residue.

I worked with an engineer that at one time worked for Loctite in Connecticut. His insight:

The 'plastic' container the product comes in is quite porous to air but not the product itself . . . that's why I doesn't cure between use.

dp

Season opener was today, and we went on a 55 mile trip. Mostly Autobahn at 60-70 mph. The new freeze plug holds water, yay!
The new shocks ride quite well. I am pleased with them. When I removed the rear shocks, the passenger side top "washer" was missing. That pretty much let the top of that shock pull almost out of its mount. The rear seems a little more stable now, but I am still loosing some gas out the filler neck on hard right turns.
Also need to tighten my fan belt, but glad to be on the road again! I also have quite a bit of wind noise coming from the vent windows in the front doors. There is always room for improvement!