Sounds odd hey, unseizing a rebuild? Well, here's the scenario. A buddy of mine has a 327 that was rebuilt years ago, and left to sit on a stand. It seized up sitting and he had it given to him. He is wanting to un-seize it and run it in his 51 chevy pickup to knock around town in. My question, what is the safest way to do this? How much disassembly is involved, etc.? I figure all moving parts should be checked out, but how, with which fluid, etc. He doesn't want to spend a ton of cash, nor does he want to just break it loose with penetrating oil and a long breaker bar. Any suggestions? Thanks!
I would either pull the spark plugs and fill up the cylinders with mystery oil or pull the heads and fill them up with mystery oil... let it soak for a while...I let the one motor I did soak for a week. Maybe pull the oil pan and flip her over and do the same from the bottom. grab a breaker bar and turn her over slowly. oh wait...he does not want to use penetrating oil or a long breaker bar... well...take the motor apart pull the crank and still use a lubricant/mystery oil in the cylinders and see if you can tap them out. maybe put a 2x4 on top of the piston and tap lightely. have never done it this way but seems like it would work.
I know of a guy who had a siezed Model A banger. Pulled the head and took a sledge and a 2x4 to it. Runs beautifully.
I think i would pull the pan, and all the Main caps, (just to be sure there is no "tight" ones) then lube the crank up good.. flip the engine over pull the heads and check the bores to see that they havent rusted up..if not oil them up good with marvel mistery oil, than let it soak for about a week. after that week filp the engine back over and check as many of the rod journals..for too tight of a fit..noting the condition of all the bearings (rod and crank mains)..if the bores are rusted..its time for a tear down .period than if all that checks out good try to rock the crank by hand with the flex plate and see if you cant get it moving.. at this point ..there is no point in trying to do a "back yard rebuild" do it right treat this motor nice and it might just last you a long time.. bull dog it, and push it with out knowing what is going on internally..it will leave you pissed off, and wishing you had looked it over better , when you had the chance obviously some moisture got to it while in storrage, or possibly some one "rebuilt" it and may have put the wrong size bearings in it causing it to be too tight..I would take the time to be sure..it will not cost you anything to check into that now..but if you run it tight it will for sure cost you some thing after you fuck it up..id just make dam sure it isnt an interfearence issue.. i have many short blocks i have built sitting in my shop oiled up and covered up..that have been sitting for years..i can go out there right now and turn one over , so theres a reason this ones hanging up..i'd find out what that reason is/.. but thats just me..
if the cylinders are rusted, yank the pistons, and run a ball hone through em. If theres pits, your screwed, if its just surface, the ball hone will clear it, and give it a nice cross hatch to seal the rings
Seized ? Hmm. what is it like? Rusty, Dirty? Do you know the real condition of it. Rebuilt the right way? Why not take it apart now and check everything before it messes up in the car later?
I once accidentally pumped water into a used but good engine. I didn't discover what had happened for almost a year. Of course it was locked solid. I used the old 2x4 across the crank pulley bolts to finally break it loose after several days of soaking with penetrating oil. A little at first and then back the other way. Back and forth until it broke loose and the ugliest shit that I've ever seen squirted out of the spark plug holes. I was sure that it was ruined but what did I have to lose? I continued on and got it running fully expecting to have broken rings and gouged cylinder walls. After the initial smoke it settled down and I drove it for several thousand miles with no ill affects. It performed so well that I soon forgot the incident and had no fear to drive it across country. I sold the truck and it kept going strong until the new owner wanted a real hot engine. You will have to get it to turn over to get it completely apart anyway. If it truly was rebuilt and never left the engine stand, I would not fear soaking it in Marvel Mystery Oil and working it back and forth. The rings never seated and the cross hatching should still be intact. It is amazing what a little lubrication can do. I recently restarted an engine with 60K on the clock that had slept for 20 years. As far as I know it never seized up but it did smoke some for the first 40-50 miles. After a few heat cycles the rings freed up and it's as tight as a drum again. JMO
Thanks for the help guys! I never even thought of Mystery Oil, but that stuff does work great doesn't it? I'll let him know that one, and also suggest checking out the bearings and lifting the heads off it too. Can never be too safe. As far as it being rebuilt properly, no one knows..... Yeah, it's one of those...... I actually have no part in this (thankfully) and just told him I'd ask on here to save him the trouble of making an account. Thanks again, and I'll let everyone know how he makes out.
50/50 blend of Acetone and ATF works best........there was a thread on here with test results a couple weeks back. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=356543&highlight=acetone
I got an old Ford 59A flathead from a fella in the neighborhood who had had it rebuilt almost 20 years earlier. It would turn some but was stuck. I poured a couple ounces of ATF down each spark plug hole and let it sit for a couple days before trying to move it over. On the secind attempt it turned all the way around and got easier too. I did fire it up and found a stuck valve in one cylinder. Sprayed some Marvel Oil in there from a spray bottle with a tube on it, waited, sprayed some more, waited a day, then came back and sorked the valve through the plug hole while turning the engine over slowly by hand. Fired it back up and ran like a top. I later pulled the intake to see how it looked inside (it had been stored outside in a chassis with a tincan on the carb and a tarp (canvas, a real one) wrapped around it for many years) and was pleased to see Johnson adjustable lifters, a complete 8BA valve setup and clean fresh yellow oil mixed with clean fresh red ATF. It still sits on the same stand in my garage waiting for a home in either my 29 A Tudor or a 23 T track roadster...or the junkman when I die.
If it was me, I'd take it all apart and fix the offending parts. For the cost of a gasket kit and a few hours you'll be done and you'll know everything is as it should be.
I agree. Since it's out and sitting on a stand, it only makes sense to check it out. Nothing to lose but a little time and gaskets and you could likely prevent causing more extensive damage.
A lot of guys used lubriplate white grease to assemble engines back in the day, some still do although theres much better stuff on the market now. The trouble with the lubriplate is that if an engine sets for a few years the stuff waxes up real bad and will lock up a motor. Also it will plug up all of the oil holes. DISSASSEMBLE THE MOTOR! Solvent wash everything, blow air through all of the holes and passages. Then check all the clearances just as you would a new motor and re-assemble it with new up to date assembly lube(Lucas as well as others make some real good stuff). Prime it with a drill for several minutes and you should end up with a real good motor. All you will be out is the price of a gasket set and your time, It will be worth it!!!
I used diesel fuel in the cylinder holes, breaker bar..no problem the motor ran very good with very little smoke..just go easy on the breaker so as not to break any rings or score the cylinders.
Find the cylinder with the piston at top dead center, or as close as possible, turn the engine so that that spark plug hole is up. Fill the cylinder with hyd. fluid. Take your port-a-power pump use some adaptors to screw it into the spark plug hole and give it a couple of pumps. If this doesn`t break it loose, you`ll have to tear it down.
Just got a 59A flathead someone freed up with a breaker bar. Ran a compression check and got zero in half the cylinders. Those all have cracked rings and one piston is junk. Good thing it didn't start. Funny, I've had luck in the past getting them running. Wonder what the cylinder walls in those engines look like now?
Well, if he doesn't want to spend money on it, he should spend time on it instead. Tear it down and look it over, being on a stand it will be easy to rotate it to give a good soak to each bank with whatever concoction you want to try, too.
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