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Plugs for Motorsports

The Industry Benchmark for Expansion Plugs

Motorsport vehicles require maximum quality and absolute precision. Therefore, championship racing teams rely on components from The Lee Company. Using our aerospace design heritage, we create components that support some of the fastest vehicles on the planet.

If you look inside the engine block and other manifolds in a premiere racing vehicle, you’ll find Lee Plugs everywhere you look. Lee Plugs are designed to form permanent leak-tight seals without using O-rings, threads, or sealants. There’s no stronger or safer method for capping a fluid passageway.

In addition to being the original OEM for expansion plugs, The Lee Company now supplies over 6 million plugs annually (over 200 million in total) without any known field failures in any application – including planes, spacecraft, and motorsport vehicles themselves. We bring a level of experience, innovation, and commitment to quality that sets us and the product apart from our competitors. As such, the original Lee Plug® Expansion Plug has evolved into a wide range of standard sizes, materials, and configurations. We have dozens of product variants that involve different materials, sizes, and sealing mechanisms.

Over half of the work we do is custom. If a standard product doesn’t meet your needs, one of our field sales engineers will work directly with your design team to develop a custom product to fit your unique application. So whether your product is off-the-shelf or one-of-a-kind, you can rest assured knowing that it’ll always adhere to our exacting standards for quality and performance.

The makers of the world’s top-performing motorsport vehicles trust our designs because of our commitment to quality, innovation, and on-time delivery. Whether the race is to qualify for the starting line or to be first across the finish line , you can count on The Lee Company to deliver top-performing components at record-breaking speed.

Lee Plug® Expansion Plugs

The founding, flagship product from The Lee Company. It works like this: the cylindrical plug body contains a tapered hole partway through. First, the body is inserted into a properly reamed hole. A tapered pin is then inserted into the plug itself. The pin causes the plug to expand in a controlled manner. Then, lands and grooves on the side of the plug bite into the sides of the hole, creating multiple metal-to-metal seals. See Installation Process Specification 203 (which applies to all Lee expansion plugs) for more information.

Lee Plugs are manufactured to exacting tolerances. Every process is precisely controlled. Each lot of pins and plugs undergoes rigorous inspection and acceptance testing. This quality control ensures peak performance where any failure could be catastrophic.

Standard Lee Plugs are available in multiple grades of aluminum, stainless steel, Monel, and titanium. They can be purchased in 0.093 to 0.656 inch diameters or metric sizes from 2.5 to 8.0 mm.

Lee R.F.O.® (Radial Force Only) Plugs

Lee R.F.O. Plugs are designed to seal holes in thin walls or fragile materials. These plugs are made to be easily removable and do not require a support shoulder. The installation system ensures that no downward pressure is applied to the product.

Lee R.F.O. Plugs are available in aluminum and can be found in standard diameters ranging from 0.156 to 0.875 of an inch.

Lee QIP® (Quick Installation Plug) Plugs

The Lee QIP was developed to provide a more straightforward method of handling and installing the smallest plug sizes. This is accomplished by pre-installing the pin into the plug. This pre-assembled component adapts more easily to automated installation. Despite their smaller size, these plugs experience no loss of strength, with proof pressures up to 12,000 psi.

The Lee QIP is available in aluminum and is offered in four standard sizes: 0.093, 0.125, 0.156, and 0.187 inch diameters.

Lee A.F.O.® (Axial Force Only) Plugs

Unlike other plugs in our product family, A.F.O. Plugs are both removable and reusable due to their threaded design, allowing technicians easy access to sealed passageways. Despite this, the A.F.O. Plug still seals up to 56,000 psi. Each plug features a floating seal that self-aligns, allowing for threaded holes that aren’t concentric with the through-hole. Lastly, the A.F.O. designation means no radial force is applied during installation, making this component suitable for thinner-walled housings. See Installation Process Specification P1013 (which applies to all A.F.O. Plugs) for more information.

A.F.O. Plugs are made from stainless steel and are available in standard diameters from 0.190 to 0.625 of an inch.

Lee Dual Sealing A.F.O.® Plugs

The Dual Sealing A.F.O. Plug comes with all the strength and ease of use offered by our regular A.F.O. Plugs, but with added safety features for use in hydraulic systems. The incorporation of an O-ring allows users to vent gas out of a side port or safely release trapped high-pressure gas. This allows the Dual Sealing A.F.O. Plug to be used for “fill and drain” applications. In addition, a newer higher pressure version of this product is available with backup rings rated to seal up to 15,000 psi when partially open.

The Dual Sealing A.F.O. Plug is available in stainless steel and can be purchased in diameters of 0.3125, 0.375, 0.500, and 0.750 of an inch.

Lee Cross Port Plugs

Lee Cross Port Plugs are a plugging solution specifically engineered to seal cross port passageways. This configuration is a variant of the original Lee Plug® that set industry standards over 65 years ago. A smooth wall design combined with the field-proven controlled expansion principle creates a permanent, leak-proof seal without the need for O-rings or sealants. Installation is simple and reliable, and the plug requires no maintenance after that.

Lee Cross Port Plugs are ideal for isolating sections of a fluidic manifold. They are also used to plug deep passageways that are difficult to access with conventional sealing methods.

Lee Cross Port Plugs are constructed from 6Al-4V Titanium. They have been qualified for proof pressures over 20,000 psi and at temperatures up to 400°F. Configurations are available in 0.250, 0.281, and 0.343 inch diameters.

Support & Resources

Support & Resources from a Team that Speaks Your Language

Partner with The Lee Company and get much more than just a supplier of top-quality fluid control products. Our reliable technical support team is available every step of the way to help you find solutions, maximize productivity, and drive efficiency across your operations. Check out these resources specific to the motorsports industry to learn more.