Another stuck Flathead story....

Over here we managed to loosen a small engine that was stuck since the fifties with a great American fluid called ACF-50, it crawls between rusted bolts like I never seen before. Normally I'm not really a believer when it comes to magical potions to solve technical problems, but this one is really something..

Now whenever I get something in my hands that is stuck by rust (and that's a weekly event) this is action one for me.

stuck valves, rusty chains, blocked segments, nuts and bolts, the list is endless

good luck

 

o, and I tried all CRC, WD-40 -variants before I got fed up with those potions..

(plus, my dad tried to loosen that engine (he got it from his dad) without breaking anything since the year 1960)

 

I had that setup...Just make sure you use "Horse Mol***es", not the store-bought kind you use in the home. Any good grain store, at bulk price.

The thing I wanted to say was this: After a week in the mol***es, my 8BA was still stuck in the valve train. So I got a 55 gallon drum, lined it with a 60-gallon construction-size plastic bag, filled it with water; added 20 Mule Team Boraxo soap, hand-winched the engine down into the solution, rear first. A 12 volt battery and trickle charger wired Negative to the engine block and Positive to a large piece of s**** metal overnight transferred the rust to the s**** metal piece. (had to replace the sacrificial metal pieces 3 times)
The block was clean, no rust left. And the near-perfect Johnson adjustable tappets came out with a squirt of PB Blaster.
Oh, I've used this method for years...learned about it in High School Science cl***!
(one of those days I didn't 'cut school'...LOL)

 

Before you try the slide hammer why not try the old wax trick? It works great on stuck bolts; I wonder if it would help free those valves. Heat the valve until it gets close to cherry and then touch a wax candle to the edge. The wax will liquefy and get ****ed right in between. That might free them and you would not damage the valves.

 

Well, it's a little late for that. I pretty much destroyed the other 13 valves, and guides, getting them out. I ended up bending my valve guide removal tool slightly in the process. Many of the guides had the lip to pull them down from the keeper torn off as well. I even broke a few valves in half trying to pry them out the top.
Although I have not tried any heat yet to see if it will free them up.