Well today I finally got the case split and it wasn't easy. I was able to beat three of the cylinders off and then we (help from friends) took a pipe wrench to the last cylinder (here is the good part and the answer to why the engine wouldn't turn over) but the piston was so seized into the cylinder that instead of just the cylinder it spun the piston too and turned the rod over three times until it broke.
If you've ever wondered how tough these rods are, there is your answer! Look at that!
The inside of the cylinder and the pistons were badly rusted together and the reason why my engine wouldn't turn over.
Everything else looked acceptable to run. The bearings were a little scuffed and the lifters were mostly flat but the crank turned freely and the cam looked decent.
The bottom of the case had a lot of really thick sludge; a lot more than what I pulled out of the oil. The inside of the case was just really dirty and most of the steel parts were really rusty.
The distributor is still stuck in the case and I'm trying not to break it. The shaft is definitely rusted in but the distributor should pull out anyway. I won't use a pipe wrench on this one, I promise.
What I learned from the tear-down was that the engine was seized because of rust in the cylinders, the distributor was also badly rusted and that there was an extreme/unacceptable amount of crap in the engine. It's a bit of a disappointing conclusion because there is a chance that I could have gotten the engine to turn over with a lot of WD-40 and patience and maybe have gotten it to run, BUT I don't regret tearing down. The engine was old enough that it needed an overhaul anyway; there was so much crap in/on that engine that I would never have relied on it as a daily driver and finally the oil was completely saturated with gasoline. However, I do regret ruining the case because it was the original engine and had matching serial numbers for the car but that also means that I would have had to rebuild the engine myself and I don't want to spend the time or anxiety doing that again.
July 16 is the Pamona Swap Meet and I will buy an engine there and what ever else I need. I will order my brake and axle things from aircooled.net. I trust them because they are very honest in their description of their products and tell you "what" "why" and "how" and they won't sell crap and if they do they'll tell you.
I've spent so much time tearing at the brakes and engine that I haven't spent much time in the driver seat getting comfortable or cleaning it up. I still have all the old magazines and papers and books in there. The interesting thing is that they are all dated from 1989... more food for thought.
No comments:
Post a Comment