Sounds like you have broken the back now, but I have suggested this once before here and you would be surprised it can work well, fill the engine cooling system with boiling water and the heat expansion and transfer can ***ist with freeing a stuck motor. In conjunction with penetrating oil and the other suggestions above, the stuck valve one is one to watch for, The last Y block I pulled downwould rotate almost a complete revolution and stop, was one stuck valve that time.
nothing yet, been away with work and not got to the car. I've been turning the motor over regularly and she now turns over with good compression using only a 14"-long breaker bar, so it's all good. next step is to get the starter motors sorted out and then refitted, and then see if i can't get her turning over on the key
It's funny.. you mentioned GM stuff... you're in England trying to unstick a Y block, meanwhile I'm in America trying to unstick a 2262cc Vauxhall inline 6!
There's a problem right there. WD40 is NOT a penetrating fluid to use for freeing up anything. Its only purpose is to displace moisture. WD40 is the most hyped bunch of garbage there is. People need to stop thinking it will free up frozen stuff, it won't and never will. Use PB Blaster or Kroil, fluids that ARE designed for such jobs. Diesel & ATF mixture will also work. Ditch the WD40.
I've had PA, PB & PC/Viscounts and Cresta's and I love those engines! I had a great one in my '59 Cresta and it ran like a sewing machine, you could balance a pound coin on it at idle and she would do 80mph all day on the open road
Replaced the starter motor today, which is the job for a contortionist but quite straight forward. I had to strip and re-build the starter bendix as it had over-extended and therefore was permanently engaged. Anyway, fitted the starter and turned the motor over a couple of times again to make sure the starter wasnt fouling or dragging. All sounded nice and quiet in there, so I thought why not try her against a battery. Hooked that up, flicked the key and she span over nicely, complete with a lovely chorus of whoopwhoopwhoopwhoop as the plugs were still out. A small victory I know, but I feel we are moving in the right direction. I had to get off home after this, but Ill head over next week to carry out a couple of oil changes before I try to fire her up
Keep the faith !!!, I had 59 Plymouth wagon , with a 318 poly engine we unstuck and I drove the heck out of it ...
Nice! I've got 2 of the 7 PAs in America, pics are in my albums. My 62 has a destroyed engine so I'm debating what to do with it as 2.6s are tough to find over here. My 60 ran beautifully but got stolen and while I got it back water got into the fuel system and into the engine seizing it tight. Looks like its going to need at least a couple of sleeves. When I had it running you couldn't hear it at idle and it ran smoother than a rolls. Drove it over 1500 miles from Canada to Orlando and it never missed a beat.
I love threads like this. It's going to be sweet music when that y-block finally runs again. Keep at it and keep us posted.
thanks fella, yesterday felt like i waking her up. I put the battery on and thought what the worst thats gonna happen? Nothing. as it was, I opened the car door and noticed the dome light flicker into life. then I heard a loud "whirring" sound and realised that the blower fan was on high, so i witched that off. with the fan off, i could hear the radio crackling, so I switched that off too, and tried the lights, most of which worked! was like ******** "Christine" in there, me and my mate just kept laughing and trying the ****ons and switches. The horn was the funniest, it made a couple of dull "donk-donk-donk" sounds then you could almost hear the diaphragms unsticking themselves as began to blare away. it really felt like awakeing her from a long slumber, really good fun
Good luck, Taff. It might be worth leaving the rocker covers off, and slather the rockers with oil. The y-blocks are notorious for not getting oil up to the top end. Don't forget to take an "It's aliiiiive!" video. Mart.
she runs, I ordered up some ignition parts for her and they dually arrived and got fitted over the weekend, still no spark. Fitted a new, known good coil, still no spark. byp***ed the ballast resister and a nice big fat spark at the plugs. so that left fuel. The main spindle on the carb was seized, so I stripped and free'd off the carb, got the spindle turning, rebuilt the carb and dropped it back on this morning. i rigged up a gravity feed of petrol and hooked up the battery flick of the key and nothing! turning over but not even trying to fire. poured a little petrol directly into the carb and she backfired twice before catching and putrring for a couple seconds before tailing off. I guess the carb is getting another strip and through clean out this time! god, it's close!!
And the video????? Well done on the initial firing. I find I can pour what seems like ridiculous amounts of fuel down the carb and it will burst into life. I'm sure you will get there. Mart.
when she runs lovley (possibly thursday.....!) i'll video her, at the moment I have to be if four places at once to do everyhting necessary to get even a couple of seconds out of her!!
Very nice write up. Reads like we're there with you. Can't wait for the Video put give us the paperback version first.
Great story, man! Hope she'll finally give in, so we can all enjoy that video So, when are coming across the pond again?
what the best way of getting a video clip uploaded? I don't really want to have to sogn up to youtube if i can help it
Hey Taff! If you're going to make it to the States in October, why don'cha put together a nice little shopping list for me in the meantime, and I'll see what I can find for you between now and then. I'm only a few hours from DC, and I'd be willing to make the drive to get everything I find from your list to you. I'm a Galaxie (OT '66) owner, too, so I've got a bit of a soft spot for them. I'm sure I can gather together just about anything you're looking for over the course of the next 6 months. PM me if you would like the help and we can exchange information.
sorry man, been busy with work. The car is in my friends barn as it is too long to fit in my garage here at my house. That means I get to work on her maybe 4-5 hours on a sturday morning if there is nothing else that needs doing. So progress is slow but moving in the right direction. I got the motor freed off and got it running with petrol dumped stright into the carb. The tank was dented to **** and rusted as well, so i took it off and cut the bottom half off it. Hammered it back into shape and cleaned the rust out of it, then very slowly welded it back together. I then put two tins of tank sealer into it, and fixed the rusted sender unit with a hotel shampoo bottle. an electric fuel pump got fitted (the engine driven pump was toast and shipping meant it was way to expensive to get one flown over), along with a fuel regulator. A new battery and a pressure switch got fitted. Remebre this was all done in four hour burst once a week..... I fitted the battery last week (after rebuilding the battery tray, come to think of it) and tried her on the key. she is now a turn-key motor car once more!! all i got to do now is make me a complete exhaust system.....
The Jalopy Journal
