stuck hemi ?

i have another 392 that is stuck, have heads, and oil pan ,timing chain off,need to get flywheel off but cant turn crank over ? how would you recommend getting it un stuck ? its been sitting with several lubricants in cylinders for weeks ! one person recommended cutting pistons? cut off wheel ? hole saw around piston pin ? anyway i need some good ideas ? thanks mike

 

You should be able to remove the main caps & the rod caps & pull the crank. Then knock out the pistons with a sledge & a section of lumber.

 

I hate giving out this type of info 'cause you could hurt yourself!!! If the heads are off the motor, heat up each piston top with a propane bottle for about a minute and then spray the top of the piston with some WD-40.. Do this one at a time till you get all 8 pistons done. Next tap on the tops of the pistons with a handle from a B.F.H. 2 er 3 taps is good enough on each piston top. Then try to crank the motor over with a 1/2 drive or bigger ratchet and socket on the balancer bolt... Just be careful!!... Hope I don't get banned for this one...

 

thanks "dueces " what you said about heating the pistons and spraying them WAS GREAT AND WORKED !!!! WE GOT SOME MOVEMENT AND JUST STARTING WORKING BACK AND FORTH ! 2 hours later it was apart on my bench !!!! THANKS THANKS THANKS mike "carryallman" wahl

 

No problem! Wish I was there giving you a hand with it. I just love taking engines apart and re-***emble them.

 

Cool beans .... I learned something tonight.

That's gonna come in real handy just shortly!

 

How about posting some pictures of the 392?? Thanks!

 

My 331 had mud in the cylinders, and the bores are rusty. Do you think it will work for me?

 

It all depends on how long it's been sitting like that.. Who knows, you just might get lucky. soak the **** out of it with WD-40 and let it sit for a while and then tap on the tops of the pistons.

 

Worth a try.

 

Any HEMI deserves to be saved if it ain't blown up.

 

Mine had a few long-term residents.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=393371

"Got the pan off last night, pretty ugly in there.


These three little guys used to live in there; probably more still under all the cotton(?) and turds.

Does this make my Hemi a "Rat" motor? Will any car it goes in be a "Rat Rod"? "

 

LOL Only if you build one! Looks like time for a power wash.

 

It will look sooo much better after a trip through the hot tank! Be sure to mag and sonic check the cyl walls.

.

 

Please explain "could hurt yourself".

 

Have you ever done what you're suggesting above? This would be a challenge on a stuck early hemi, or pretty much any V8 that I've ever worked on. Or when you say "should" did you mean that the engineers "should" have designed them so this could be done?

 

We've used cokeacola down the bores of a stuck motor - sounds weird yet it worked - now imagine what coke is doing to free up stuck pistons and then realise what its doing to your guts when drinking the stuff
And they say battery acid is bad for you@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I've done it on a stuck mopar 360 sb that had been sitting outside. Pulled the caps, dropped the crank, and pounded the pistons out with a 2x4 and a sledge. Not quite as easy as it sounds sometimes, but definitely do-able.

 

WD-40 is flammable!

 

That's why I don't drink that ****!

 

Cool! Mouse fossils!

 

Prehistoric fossils!! They might be worth somthin' down at the science lab.

 

Great advice Dueces, i've got a 354 with 1 stuck piston and i'll give that a try. How hot do you get the piston?

 

I don't know..... 150-170 degrees maybe?? Or a little hotter.

 

Yup, came apart so easily once the caps were off that I'm thinking it don't take much to "stick" an ***embled engine.

 

Kudos to you guys, 'cause you are better than me if you've pulled cranks out of stuck V8's with any regularity. Two that I distinctly remember that would not come apart this way were a Mopar 440, and an early 392 Hemi. Seems like there were always a few of the rod bolt nuts that I couldn't get a socket or wrench on, or wasn't able to drive the rod bolts out due to the angle of the rod making the bolt hit the side of the block. And if you can get a short wrench on some of those nuts, then there's always either a main bearing web or counterweight in the way so you can't turn it, not to mention the fact that it takes about 360 lbs of pressure on the end of a short wrench to break them loose.

I'd be interested in hearing from others of you that have had to resort to heat, solvents, chisels, hole saws, etc. in order to destroy pistons so that you could get them apart. Maybe the ones I've dealt with were all stuck in the "wrong" position.

 

I'm with Ebbsspeed on this subject. I have never been able to remove a crank in the manner suggested.
When I have stuck pistons I rarely waste time with the PB blaster/diet coke/mol***as...if the pistons are stuck then they are junk. I get out a ½" drill motor and ½ bit and go through the tops of the pistons until I can get the pin loose. Sometimes I resort to my chipping gun if needed.


.

 

I definitely wouldn't say that you can always drop the crank. I'm sure that most engines can get stuck in a position so that you can't free the crank. On the other hand, it does seem to work on occasion, so its worth trying.

If I remember correctly, I actually had to pound a couple the pistons back "up" the bores a little before I freed the crank on the 360. But as mentioned, the pistons are junk anyway.

For an old hemi I'd try just about anything!

 

The fact that you could pound some of the pistons up into the bore could make a world of difference. Getting the big end of the rod out of the way would give more working room, and eliminate some of the rod angles that "trap" the crankshaft. In the engines I've tried to do this on, ALL of the pistons were stuck, so I didn't have the luxury of eliminating some of the interference they caused.

 

Did I mention that ATF fluid eats rust also??? Give it a whirl an' see what happens. Just gotta give it time to do it's magic.