Crankshaft won't turn over completely for TDC

Cam to tight Probably rust in the cylinders

 

If you didn't like your status...you could have always bought an Alliance Membership

But getting back to your problem, sounds like everything here has been covered for possibilities...Hope you find the issue. Good luck!

 

I agree ,I've seen the valley split and above the motor mount area also
More often than not - you just can't drop the converter in the trans - it has to be spun a few revolutions to seat that last 1/4" to line up the splines - but that might not cause a bind

 

Pull the heads and take a look.

 

The quick and dirty has already been suggested;

Take the converter to flexplate bolts out and shove the converter back into the front pump to get it clear of the engine.

Carefully turn the motor all the way around using the big flat screwdrive hooked in the ring gear teeth and leveraged against the block trick. If the motor goes round and round, it's the transmission. Time to drop the transmission out and find out what's wrong with it.

If it doesn't, fill each cylinder with a 50/50 mix of acetone and transmission fluid and put the plugs back in. Let in soak, the longer the better. If you feel brave after you've soaked it, take the plugs out and try spinning the motor with the starter and a hot battery. Don't be ashamed to do it by hand if you're not. If you get it to spin completely around, put the plugs back in and start it. Just don't be surprised with all the water you found in the pan to find the motor giving it's best impression of a Hotsy. If it does, the motor is probably junk and you might as well start field stripping it to find the real problem.

 

Well, I went out and tried the "bopping" thing with the valve covers off...to no avail. After the bopping, I took the pulley off, got some long bolts and a wonder bar, and had the wonder bar pivot on it's thru hole and push against one of the other bolts...viola!...instant leverage. HOWEVER, still wouldn't move. I *did* take off the exhaust manifolds and two interesting things happened when I began rotating via the wonderbar. A **** of rust came out of one of the ports, while a trickle of water came out of plugs 3, 5, and 4....looked into the holes with a flashlight and saw moisture in #1, too. I hope to God this doesn't mean the whole thing is shot.

When I got the wonder bar on it, I got to the point where it was stopping when I was hand turning it, but this time, with the additional leverage, I heard that familiar crusty metal-against-rust sound. I gave a little, but nothing to write home about.

SO...I guess I now should put some mystery oil into the plug holes and let it sit for awhile?

If rust is indeed the problem.....what are the chances the whole thing is just a worthless brick?

 

The point of the bopping was to see if any valves were stuck, not necessarily to free it up.

So all this turning back and forth by hand was with the plugs in? Yikes, that's the hard way!

Worthless brick is a relative term. It'll likely be a smoker if there's cylinder rust. I'd give it a few days with penetrant, work it back and forth by hand a few times, back it all the way up to let inertia build and hit the starter (still no plugs).

FWIW the way you got 360 access to take it apart originally was to rotate back the other direction. Probably never turned it thru the hard part.

 

Judging from this new info you've posted I think it's pretty safe to ***ume the engine got water in the cylinders at some point and it got rusty internally. You "might" get really lucky and free it up with mystery oil and repeated turning back & forth but if it was me I'd just plan on doing a complete rebuild or finding another engine. Of course I'm an engine builder and I enjoy doing that stuff.

 

how does it turn over with all the plugs removed? why was motor removed. most people don't go to all the headache to remove a motor that runs fine unless they have new home for it. pull the top end off as those 283 gasket sets are pretty reasonable as compared to new engine gasket sets.

 

Engines sit with valves open regardless of what position they're in. Condensation gets in the cylinders. Thus it's likely the neighbor who said it ran fine when pulled is entirely honest.

 

Water in the oilpan, water in some cylinders, crank locks, rustdust out an exhaustport, water out of others, crusty noises... I'd say, yes this one is toast alright!
Pull the heads to ***ess the damage, take some pics and show them here.

 

I hope the mystery oil does work...I'm not a ******** guy when it comes to rebuilding, and it would break my heart to learn that all of the work I've done so far is for squat. It just seems that once you get into having to hone things, rebore them...etc...it just becomes a money pit. It ****s already having to work outside without a garage. If the engine is toast, I'm likely to just sell the whole thing and get away from this all together for a long time.

Yeah, I'm more likely to light the thing on fire than pull an engine I just put in and have to do a swap all over again. Most guys on here are hard core and are mostly ok with having to do that...but probably because they actually know what they're doing. So far, my first experience with this has been pretty bad.....this would most likely be the last nail in the coffin.

 

Things are 200% easier the second time you do them.

You also gotta realize this is a hobby, and if your working conditions make it so you don't enjoy your hobby.......perhaps the focus should be on better working conditions.

Me, I looooove working on old ****. But would refuse to swap an engine, outdoors, in Jersey, in January. Facking miserable experience that will lead to mistakes and shortcuts.

Good luck with the hobby

 

BTW if this was a stuck flathead thread there'd be 50 guys lined up to say "run it"

good luck

 

Don't get to discouraged, walk away from it, it will be there when you get back.

 

...And if you get the valvetrain all loosened up(or heads pulled off) and it's still stuck, see if the fuel pump pushrod is seized.

 

You have just touched the tip of the iceberg so far, just take a break and relax. They'll be alot worse things happen if you stay with the old car thing...

 

Seems that the chances are pretty well stacked against this engine running without a strip down and at least a hone and new rings.
Chances are that even if it does run then its going to rapidly mess the rings up in there if they aren't messed up already.
It really makes sence to pull the heads now before you go any further. Its not a hard job even for a first timer, and it will at least let you know the extent of the damage to the bores, rings,valves etc.
It may be that another doner engine would be a cheaper option (just make sure it turns and has good clean oil and some compression. Even remove the heads before buying if you can, gaskets are cheap compared to a rebuild.). You already have all the motor mounts etc made up so swapping out the dead engine and installing another will be loads easier.
Could you get some help from somebody, it really makes things easier when you have another pair off hands, especially when doing an engine swap.
Don't give up now, youv'e already done the hard work. This is just a set back but not worth giving up on. Take a step back for a while, Just think how well that old chevy is gonna run with a nice small block in her. You are not far away from really getting some fun from all your hard work.
Stick at it and get ready for some summer cruising

Paul.

 

"Marge, don't discourage the boy!" -Homer Simpson.

 

Ah hewl no, it's a chivvy

If he can get it turning, the ole girl will run. It's really a question of how much blowby, will it clear up with time, and can he live with the blowby?

Due to the dime a dozen nature of small chevies, I'd try running it rather than teardown. If ruined by the attempt, what was saved on head gaskets will buy another core motor.

 

I'm with Shifty man. But also, pour that trans fluid in and let it sit while working on something else. I pulled my flatty out and never felt comfortable it would run. Trans fluids soaked in it for over a month and ran like a top when I got to it. Lucky though. Being out in the weather can be brutal even if (by no chance in hell) everything goes well. I'm new to this myself but learned real quik the best thing to do when disscouraged is walk away or move to something else for a bit. Good luck!

 

So after reattaching my balls, I decided to dedicate today to seeing if I could figure this whole thing out. I went ahead and removed the heads, and there, lurking in cylinder #6.....THIS gaping maw:



Now, I know for a damn fact that I plugged every orifice on the engine, in addition to wrapping the whole thing with plastic, and keeping it far from the ground from the day I got it 5 months ago. However, my neighbor swears that this *couldn't* have happened after they took the engine out and put it in storage. He's a good guy, but in this case....I'd have to say he's wrong. That much dirt couldn't have built up if I left the thing out in the rain all year last year....I wouldn't think. The whole thing was filthy when I got it.

ANYWAY.....

So, I cleaned out all of the muck and grime, got one of my softer small wire brushes after it and then it looked like this:




The more I went after it, the more I realized that crud was coming off...and it was black. I went and rented a cylinder hone at Autozone and went after it for a bit....I'd say I got all of the raised crud off of it, no problem. However, there was some small pitting left at the top of the cylinder, side closest to the valley, as shown above. I didn't get to take a pic of it afterwards....it was mostly smooth as a baby's bottom, except for that portion at the top. I didn't want to go *too* gangbusters on it, I didn't know how it would affect the seals...for better or for worse.

SO.....I greased up the inside of all of the cylinders (all the others were fine) with Mystery Oil, and it turns over fine now...no problems, no resistance. The way I figure it, if it sounds like hell or becomes a law of diminishing returns once I'm able to get it running, I'll see what I can do then.

I got new seals for the whole thing, got the starter bolted on, got it all back together, distributor on, and found TDC. I'm going to look for someone who can look it over and tell me if I've done it right...or created a weapon of m*** destruction.

Here's where I left it, all together, right at dark (covered the hell out of it afterwards):

 

I have run worse. Might smoke some. Run it until you can't stand it anymore and then rebuild it. It looks like you got it back together just fine, so long as you used a torque wrench, and proper specs. I think you are doing fine.

 

Yes, it looks like you did fine. Not meant to sound discouraging, but does it feel smooth when rollin over? I'm just a little concerned about that upper ring being broken. Did you roll it over several revolutions while the heads were off after cleanup? To look for scoring of cylinder walls from broken rings? If you covered this, it will run. Don't worry about that, it might smoke a little. Steven.

 

Congrat's buddy. You did not RUN AWAY!
All of us here had a first time when we felt intimidated by an engine.
Some run away and take up golf...others reposition their balls and then move into
the realm of "MECHANIC".
You now stand head and shoulders above guys that have never done it.
Welcome to our world of motorheads!

 

Oh BTW, you should search here for the tech to drilling and tapping that crank for a bolt on dampner install. And, if ever willing, I will buy those non-accy. rams horn exh. manifolds off of you. Steven.

 

I think you made us all proud for sticking with it! Good Luck.

 

It feels smooth....or at least to me it does. I did that while the heads were off, no scoring on any walls that I can see.

I've only got one, the driver's side...you're welcome to it, just pay for the shipping

I'm proud of yall for not busting my balls. I figured I'd get some "Well, maybe you should get out, if you're going to be like that....you puss!"

 

Sand rust with 600 sand paper and use oil for cutting then bring piston up to top dead center and wire wheel top of piston .Remember to stuff rags and keep other areas free from debris .I thought it was water in the cylinder .I freed up a boat motor after a season of getting water in it .Good luck and when it comes to readjusting the cam ,Just ask .

 

I used oil with the cylinder hone and just had to wipe up/clean out all the powder debris...checked the other cylinders for any shards of the stones that might have flown off...all done at TDC for that cylinder. Hopefully I did a good enough job. Since a lot of the work I do (in my real job) is CAD based, I'm so used to having everything be mathematically perfect that I get concerned about everything I do to this car....if it's not absolutely perfect I think it'll explode or not work at all. So far I haven't met up with perfection on anything I've done on this ride.