I removed as much of the shield as I could. Attached is a pic of one of the plugs that I'm dealing with.

 

And that's the reason we remove the heat shields.

 

Holy smokes!

 

you may have to get a new head ! thats not coming out

 

Holy smokes! That is fugly man. I feel for you. I hope it comes out of there. Just remember to use anti-seize on all plugs when replacing! Good luck.

BTW - How do you remove the plug heat shields anyway? I might just yank mine.

 

Grab, rock and pull with a pair a vise grips. But they don't need to be removed, unless of course the plugs have never been changed, as in that pic.

 

wow, wasn't expecting that

 

There are threads on removing heads in the sticky area, but keep in mind, if the plug was that rusted, the header bolts will likely be in fine shape to snap off. If I were in your shoes, I would remove the head anyway & take it to a good machine shop. They can fix all that then all you gotta do is get fresh head bolts & a torque wrench. Good luck man!

 

If you are going to go to the trouble of yanking the heads, I would be REALLY tempted to just replace them. Given what those plugs look like (and I have NEVER seen anything THAT bad.....), it doesn't speak well for the condition of the heads in general.... and these guys were known for cracking anyway. Real possibility that for what you are going to end up spending getting stuff removed, and having the heads reconditioned, you could spend LESS picking up a pair of NEW odessa heads, that are better design than stock.......

 

I had to have the head removed and then they drilled them out.