Leaderboard

Dowell, sort of there to prevent any movement, unsettling of the head during its reliable service life. I would be finding one...

The purpose of the Dowel Pins are to line up the head gasket and head when mating with the block so they are in the correct position. The pin should fit easily into the head, but tight into the block. I have made similar ones from bolts or a steel bar ground down and then cut to length. Hardware stores usually carry metal dowel pins, but probably not the right diameter and a short pin is hard to grind down to a smaller diameter. You can hold onto a steel bar while grinding it down. A machine shop can turn one out pretty quick.

I got an L shapes hex wrench for those plugs years ago. Never had a problem getting them out.

I just so happen have a '98 outback parts car. I'll see if the brackets are even reusable since the car is a rust bucket.

And with the correct tool you lean on it then give a quick shove and it breaks free So are you now looking at rebuilding this engine? You sort of hinted at this in one of your posts above. Cheers Bennie

Nevermind. I'm dum... On the back of the cluster, on the circuit board you can plainly see the o.p circuit going to the cluster plug... duh...