Background: 86 302 Ford roller motor. Built 20 years ago but never started. Stored inside, clean everything, sparkling clear oil etc. I boroscoped the cyclinders and there is very slight to no corrosion in the cylinders. I can't turn the engine over by hand with a breaker bar on the front and I'm feeling like I will twist the crank bolt off if I push it. I have been able to turn it 3 rotations using a prybar on the flywheel so I know it is not "stuck". I have let it sit overnight with a blend of every penetrating oil and spray lube I have. It started off WAY hard to crack with the prybar, but now I can do it with one hand but it is not easy by any means. And yes, the spark plugs are out. I can only move it one tooth on the flaywheel at a time so three rotations = a lot of work so far. When I bolt the brand new start up in engages and then stops in its tracks. Any suggestions
Sounds like a good reason it was never started is because it was not put together properly. I'd tear it down and find out what is binding up.
Yeah, pull it apart and replace the crank and rod bearings, and check the journals. It sounds like they were installed with no lube. Or overtorqued.
I would start with pulling the pan off and checking rod and mains. Do you know who built the engine? Why was it never started after the rebuild? My first guess though as if its that tight you have a bearing clearance problem.
DANGER! This is not good. You need to dis***emble the engine and inspect it. If it is that hard to turn over, it's not because it is "tight". It is because there is a mechanical interference that will result in metal to metal contact if started. Boom. Tear it down. Find out what is wrong. Good luck. PS: I have a 5.0 roller in my Cougar. I'm familiar with the type.
thats where i was headded before he typed this..or the caps are on the wrong way..or the journals were not cleaned properly when the bearings were installed.. dont move the crank pull the pan..take them all off one at a time and in between each main journal cap removal see if it turns..and look at the bearings closely..after this step move on to the connecting rods
I had a 350 chev that was the same way, "rebuilt". The fella never cleaned the carbon behind the rings making them tight in the bore. After I re-rebuilt it, it turned over easy like it should about 43lbft without the plugs
Or rod and crank bolts tightened with an impact. Seen that a few times, and this sounds exactly like it.
I'd have to agree that it would be well worth the cost of a set of gaskets to make sure of exactly what you were facing before you tried to start it.
I had a similar issue with a 53 flathead many,many, many years back. It was a fresh rebuild that was very hard to turn. Turns out a wrong flywheel had it in a bind...
I used plasti-gage on every motor I built. All were in spec. and I almost wondered why bother.............until one of the last ones I did. Rod number 8 was improperly sized by the machine shop. These things happen. Some people are too trusting of their machine shop and don't check during ***embly. This is what I would suspect.
Better to take the safe course and take 'er apart and locate exactly what the problem is, might be no real damge yet or something that costs little to repair. Forcing it could end up costing you far more.
After 3 turns, whatever is wrong is already going to show marks to home you in on it. Some bearing or bore is going to show tracks.
What happened with the engine is the guy paid $1,100 to have it built in 1988, then started to install it and never got it hooked up totally. He got lost on how to align the pulleys and PS pump and quite. I bought the car and pulled the engine. It looke brand new on the inside with fresh freeeze plugs and new parts. Car has been sitting in the garage ever since (a 1968 Mustang Fastback) I'm not an engine guy and I can do some things (paint, body, suspension, mechanical, frame, etc) but internal engine stuff freaks me out since I'm always afraid I'm going to forget something or mess something up. I hate to have to pay someone to tear it down again.
Start by removing the timing chain. Still turn over hard? Time to start removing rods and mains. If it turns over easy with the timing chain out, put the timing chain back and remove the pushrods one at a time until it does turn over easy. If they're all out and it still turns hard that's the cam or oil pump binding. Also unhook the transmission if it's hooked up. good luck
Before you start pulling rod and main caps, check your crank endplay, lack thereof can bind em up pretty tight.
what i've done to remedy that situation more than once is take the carb off and set a sbc under it.bolt the carb down and go cruising.
Well, I always start by doing the easiest thing first. Shifty said pull the ****** off of it if it is still connected, so I did. C-4 automatic. The engine turns over easy now and the trans doesn't. THANKS GUYS!! Anyone know why a clean and supposedly rebuilt C-4 won't turn?
Maybe the guy who couldn't line up stock pulleys and pwr steering didn't know how to install a torque converter either and screwed up the pump...
I think when the trans and engine were mated, the torque converter was not in all the way. That forces the snout of the converter against the "locks" in the pump. It crushes the two together thus no turning of the engine and trans when together. I did this once myself so I was getting ready to suggest this being a possible problem. the trade name is "stacking the pump". The trans front pump is now trash. Get another one installed.
Good thing you didn't tear the engine down, or, Gag!, replace it with a SBC. I have heard of this. ****s for sure.
Maybe it's in Park! (yes of course that's a joke) One other thing to check, and I think this is unlikely. Ford manual transmissions require a cast iron "chuck" in the end of the engine's crankshaft to hold the pilot bearing. You have to remove this chuck in order for an automatic to work, as the torque converter has to reside in the same physical space that this chuck uses. Make sure you don't have one (or pieces of an old one) in there.
One other thing to check is that the pilot on the front of the converter fits into the end of the crankshaft. If it doesn't, when you tighten the flex plate to the converter and the converter is in the front pump properly, it will jack the crank right into the thrust face of the thrust bearing. Been there, done that!
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