That would be nice, but there is not any air compressor in my one car garage. I also am a little bit of a coward with an impact wrench or a long breaker bar. I HATE trying to get a easy-out to work. It seems whenever I try the easy-out breaks right in the middle of the stuck bolt. I drill and and tap or helicoil a lot with tough bolts (obviously not on main cap, rod, head, or the like bolts). I really avoid the easy-out's. The hemi is not that bad off. So far all of the bolts on the top end come out with relative ease. There is even some black motor oil in the heads still. I will let you know what was stuck when I get there.
to good a motor to risk...if you do get it unstuck and get it fired up....you run the risk of more costly damage (rings may be broken or have rusted a recess into the bore)...at minimum....get it on a stand, pull the heads and sump, pull the crank out, and try to work each piston individually...more than likely that only one or two will be stuck hard...if everything looks good, some new gaskets are all you will need...from my experience with a 283...goodluck
my experience is that an impact wrench is MUCH LESS likely to break or strip a bolt than a breaker/cheater bar. that prolly wasn't worth two cents, but there it is anyway.
Two stories... One Hemi one Studebaker... My uncle has a 40 Studebaker we gave him. The straight-8 was stuck solid. My Dad tried the dragging behind the tractor thing... nothing. When my Uncle got it he took thehead off, soaked the cylinders for a month or so. He cranked the motor using a breaker I believe or maybe he dragged... can't remember it exactly. Same story though, fired right up and has ran awesome ever since. I've personally heard this motor run and it runs super quiet and smooth. Next story, my 331 Hemi... VERY stuck! Looks like it was sunk in a lake or something with the amount of mud on this motor. When I got it one of the head was completely off and exposed. Rust in the cylinders and on the head mounting surface (obviously). The rest was pretty good inside except the bugs and mice nests that littered the inside. Anyway, EVERY lifter, the cam and anything that moved was stuck pretty solid. We soaked the cylinders the best we could with transmission fluid. Every piston had to be knocked out and two had to actually be pushed IN to the motor (had to break the skirts off the pistons to do this). Obviously we dropped the crank first to do all this. Anything that was bolted though, came free easily with very little effort. Oh yeah, the hardest piston to get out was on the side where the head was still in place with NO rust in the cylinders. Never did figure out why it was stuck so bad in that cylinder... Good luck man! Keep us posted!
A couple of things come to mind; maybe you've already covered them...... Have you eliminated the valve train, ie. a valve stuck on its seat? Backed off the rockers, etc? Note which two cylinders have OPEN valves and concentrate on these being the ones with stuck pistons. Pull the heads; you're only out the gaskets, and you can eyeball/mic the bores. Might need a rebuild anyway.
I tried for 3 weeks to unstick my 430 MEL. I tried every trick posted on the HAMB. I fianlly used dynomite and blew the ****ing pistons out,,,cylinders and all. LOL,,,,,,,,,good luck.
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