I'm in the middle of doing my head gaskets and I'm having trouble getting the knock sensor and the block drain plug off the block. The car is in a shop with just about any tool at my disposal and I'll be damned if I can find anything to get either one off.

Drain plug - does not appear to be enough clearance between that and the bracket that is near it (the pic on shoebox's site, the bracket in the pic seems to be closer to my drain plug than is shown in the pic?) What type of tool or combination of tool have you guys used to successfully get the plug off? I can barely touch it with my hand..lol.

Knock sensor - Is this a proprietary size? The hex on the end of the plug, I've tried both standard and metric sockets on it but cannot find one that fits it snugly enough to avoid stripping it.

Thanks...

 

for the passenger drain plug, I had to use a combination of 1/4" drive extension(s) and a u-joint.

For the knock sensor, I never could get it loose even with the head off and headers removed. Once I pulled the engine out of the car I was finally able to remove the knock sensor with a pipe wrench

 

been a while but seems to me like i used a spark plug socket and wrench. it was a 6 sided deep socket anyways.

 

u can use an adjustable spanner to loos the knock sensor. thats what i do...
something like the one in this link
http://www.worldofstock.com/slides/PWO3882.jpg