stuck engine

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Vic Skirmants
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stuck engine

#1 Post by Vic Skirmants »

For those who think that pouring some magic juice into the cylinders of a stuck engine will free things up and make everything rainbows and unicorns, I will now try to post some photos of an engine that was fully rebuilt and NOT stored properly for a long time. Wish me look with the photos.
Note the brand new valves and pistons (not shown), as well as the cylinder head that is totally clean and un-run (is that a word?).
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head 2.JPG
flywheel.JPG
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Wes Bender
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Re: stuck engine

#2 Post by Wes Bender »

"Un-run" is a perfectly good word. They need to keep ferrous metals out of these engines...... if they expect to leave them on the shelf (or out in the rain).

Merry Christmas, Vic.
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George Walling
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Re: stuck engine

#3 Post by George Walling »

what a shame all that money now wasted, Lot of folks make that mistake.
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Adam Wright
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Re: stuck engine

#4 Post by Adam Wright »

The real danger is when you start one of these hibernated motors. We recently bought a 73 911 that had been sitting, with a re-built motor. We took it to my mechanic who had it running in the morning, yeah! But by lunch it had done locked up. That's like watching $10,000 fly out the window!
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Wes Bender
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Re: stuck engine

#5 Post by Wes Bender »

Unless I was the one storing the engine and knew exactly how it was pickled and stored, I'd at least pull the heads before I would consider oiling one up and trying to start it.

Does your mechanic not have the capability of pulling an engine, Adam? Or did his attempt at saving you $1k set you back $10k.
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Vic Skirmants
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Re: stuck engine

#6 Post by Vic Skirmants »

This engine was sent by a customer as a base for doing a race engine. He knew nothing about it, just referred to it as his "junkyard" engine. Good news is: we only need the case, heads, and rocker arms; all of which were good.
I had picked up a bore-scope at the previous PRI show in Indy. This was my first attempt at using it. Quite a shock to see new pistons and valves through the spark plug hole. Wasn't sure about the brown ferrous mountains until I tore it down. Yes, the rust in the cylinders was a good 1/8" high!

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Adam Wright
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Re: stuck engine

#7 Post by Adam Wright »

Wes Bender wrote:Unless I was the one storing the engine and knew exactly how it was pickled and stored, I'd at least pull the heads before I would consider oiling one up and trying to start it.

Does your mechanic not have the capability of pulling an engine, Adam? Or did his attempt at saving you $1k set you back $10k.
In his defense he was going off my info that the car was driven until a few years ago. I think I assumed that when I asked again and it looks like the car may have been sitting for longer. Oh well, still made money on the car, and it was the rougher of the 2 cars anyway, the other was a 73S, both from the Bade Estate. Win some and lose some. And yes, when I sold the car I gave full disclosure of what happened with the motor.
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Tom Coughlin
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Re: stuck engine

#8 Post by Tom Coughlin »

Vic: With a rebuilt engine that's sitting on the shelf (for years), what would you suggest for safe storage? It has been turned by hand monthly and is thus quite free turning. Tom
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Re: stuck engine

#9 Post by Vic Skirmants »

As long as you turn it occasionally, I don't see a problem.

Thomas Frisardi
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Re: stuck engine

#10 Post by Thomas Frisardi »

Adam Wright wrote:The real danger is when you start one of these hibernated motors. We recently bought a 73 911 that had been sitting, with a re-built motor. We took it to my mechanic who had it running in the morning, yeah! But by lunch it had done locked up. That's like watching $10,000 fly out the window!
What caused the engine to lock up?

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Re: stuck engine

#11 Post by Adam Wright »

Thomas Frisardi wrote:
Adam Wright wrote:The real danger is when you start one of these hibernated motors. We recently bought a 73 911 that had been sitting, with a re-built motor. We took it to my mechanic who had it running in the morning, yeah! But by lunch it had done locked up. That's like watching $10,000 fly out the window!
What caused the engine to lock up?
Don't know, something deep down and scary, I figured it was easier to leave the engine together, sell the car, and that way no little pieces got lost in shipping. The new owner in the UK can drop the motor and do the tear down.
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Cliff Hanson
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Re: stuck engine

#12 Post by Cliff Hanson »

tom coughlin wrote:Vic: With a rebuilt engine that's sitting on the shelf (for years), what would you suggest for safe storage? It has been turned by hand monthly and is thus quite free turning. Tom
In 1970 I took the engine out of my C coupe and tore it down due to a chunk of metal in the oil. I rebuilt it with a 912 crank, Racer Brown cam, MC pistons and cylinders and 40PII-4 carbs. It then sat in storage for 40 years when I tore it apart to see if it had rust and to rebuild it with a different cam and pistons, but the same cast iron cylinders bored to 86 mm. To my amazement there was NO rust inside, even on the cylinder walls! I had not done anything special during assembly as I expected to have it running in a year (1971), I just used lots of oil, possibly mixed with a little STP. There was still some wet liquid oil inside. The only explanation is it was always in a semi-heated garage or hangar where there was no condensation forming.
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C J Murray
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Re: stuck engine

#13 Post by C J Murray »

One thing to NOT use is WD-40 or similar products that absorb moisture. They attract moisture and cause rust.

Leaving your engine outside for decades isn't good either...
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Re: stuck engine

#14 Post by George Walling »

another item to stay away from when assembling a engine is luber plate or white grease as it will dry out and seize up a engine if left in storage for a long time in storage, if it doesn't seize up it turns hard and will wipe out bearings. Happy New Year to all
George
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