I have an old engine I have no real history on. I was told it froze up from sitting in a shed. I bought itas is and it is frozen, it will not turn over. I have time so I was thinking tofill it with some Mystery Oil for a month and then try to turn it over with asocket. Plugs out of course. If nothing happens I could pull the heads. After thatI was thinking of the best way NOT to damage the cylinders/pistions.

I was wondering ifanyone has disassembled one like this and what is the best way to go about it? Or how did they do it?
Thanks for your insight

 

Best way is to remove the heads, soak the piston with LOTS of penetrating oil, and using a hard block of wood and a hammer smack the edge of the piston 90* of the wrist pin. Hopefully after doing that a few times you can get the piston to rock in the bore. I have used this method on mild rusted engines with some success.

If the engine is rusted up solid probably the only way your getting it apart is to break pistons. Remove the rod cap, and using a long pipe or punch try to knock the piston out of the bore. Be prepared to spend some time on this. A good quality air hammer and a punch attachment would probably work. At this point the pistons will useless. No big deal, at this point the cylinder bores will be to pitted to use as is. It will need bored and new pistons.

 

An engine like this SHOULD come completely apart for a rebuild. I would not waste my time trying to get it unstuck. Remove intake heads and anything that will come loose then see if any pistons will come out. The ones stuck may need some soaking and some force. Go easy and it should come apart.

 

A buddy of mine told me he pulls all the plugs and determines which piston is at the top position on the compression stroke. Then, he squirts Marvel Mystery Oil or Seafoam into each cylinder. Next he screws an air fitting into the cylinder with the piston at the top, fills the cylinder with compressed air (regulated below 100 psi) and walks away. He lets it sit for a few days with the air hooked up. Once the oil works through and loosens things up, the compressed air pushes the piston down and breaks it free. He says it works great. Fortunately for me, I've never had occasion to try it!

 

It will be rebuilt so
Lots of time lots of oil and go easy
thanks

 

This is good info on the oil and 90* of the wrist pin and a block of wood. I will start tapping and maybe end up smacking
Thanks

 

A lot of good suggestions, let us know how you progress.

 

if you have ever heard of a rust removal product called metal rescue, i have heard that works better than anything for that and other types of rust removal. just fill all cylinders and wait a day. i restore old tools and plan to use it soon to check it out, but they have videos online and it looks to work great.

 

I used PB blast in the cyclinders. Took the heads off and took out all pistons that were not froze and I could still get to. Some rod bolts were not accessible due to the crank not moving. Time and PB blast eventually got it to budge then more work got it loose. An additional .020 over bore got the rust pitting removed.

 

last one i unstuck, poured diesel fuel in and filled it to the top for a few days... broke it loose by turning it with a breaker bar...worked fine for me

 

I like the diesel idea with maybe a torch. I could light it and pre heat it. Then after the fire went out pour more diesel in and let it sit for a week.

 

at least this time of year it would keep you warm, so that's two birds with one stone

 

Oh it is in the teens here tonight and it will snow maybe a little this weekend. It will be a few months before I open this thing up. I will be doing the work to the engine outside as that is where it is now. At least it is under a tarp. I will post and take pics of the progress.

 

Great photos for all those who want to know what is original engine color!!!

 

The original engine in my nova was stuck, I didnt know how bad so i towed it and dumped the clutch and nothing. I tried for about a week with rocking the car in gear, towing, transmission fuid, diesel and a crow bar. I couldnt get it to rotate until i pulled the engine, pulled the head of and let some kroil soak in for a few days and then with a hammer and a block of wood it broke free. After all that i would suggest using kroil and a hammer while also using a crow bar to rock the engine back and forth

 

Diesel fuel seems the nearest we've come to snake oil that does something useful!.
Great for clearing out sludge in a badly maintained engine, great for unfreezing stuff too if time isn't too much of an issue.

Roger.

 

That patina is hard to capture in a photo.
Thanks

 

I am more interested in this number than the color

 

This will sound crazy, but try soaking it w/ Iodine! (Stuff works miracles for unsticking engines etc!) Let us know how it's coming along....

 

I have heard several people swear by a 50/50 mixture of acetone and automatic transmissioin fluid. Be sure to use a metal container since acetone will dissolve the plastic.

 

Also, remember that this mixture is usually discussed in terms of "short-term" unsticking.
For "long-term" unsticking, such as leaving it in a stuck engine for days or weeks, the acetone will evaporate within hours, so you will need to add more every day to maintain the penetrating action (and/or leave all valves closed and retighten spark plugs each time)..

- Eric