engine and drivetrain 73 2002tii head removed

[ProjectCar]

Last week I introduced myself and my latest project car, a 73 2002tii that is stuck. I think the car might have been off the road for at least 20 years and maybe a burned out clutch is what took it off the road. After soaking the cylinders and trying to turn it for a few weeks I took the advice of those on the forum and pulled the head. I think the #1 cylinder is the problem, it was pretty rusted on the cylinder wall and that cylinder was full of the Marvel Mystery Oil while the MMO had drained past the rings on the other three cylinders. I cleaned it up some with emory cloth and I'm still soaking it some more. I cleaned the top of the pistons to read the markings, all read 88.97. The engine still won't turn with my breaker bar.  Can I get the oil pan off with the engine in the car to have a peek at the borrow end? Or am I wasting my time and I should just pull the motor?

 

Thanks, Don in Dallas

[TobyB]

Yeah,

sadly, it'll be time ahead at this point to pull the whole block.  You may be able to beat #1 to bdc, but then it's not

going to want to come back up again.  And with that much rust, the rings will be stuck, almost for certain.

 

t

 

[ProjectCar]

Will the pan come off with the engine in the car? Most people pull the engine and trans as one unit?

 

Thanks, Don

[Conserv]

You will need to slightly lift the engine to drop the oil pan.  But, honestly? You need the block out for boring -- even if relatively slight -- so pull or drop the engine.  Lots of threads on pull versus drop engine: in my opinion, the engine droppers are shocked how easy it is and they also rebuild their front ends (most subframes wind up with a cracked left motor mount at some point).

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

[thehackmechanic]

Agree with TobyB and Conserv. 

 

Think about it this way: It depends what the goal is (as do so many things in life).

 

If the goal is simply to get the engine freed up enough to turn, and then eventually to run, you might get there through repeated soaking in MMO, incremental movement, maybe pulling the pan off and knocking the piston in our out, maybe honing and re-ringing, but look --> you're already getting dragged down the rabbit hole. You CAN hone and re-ring with the engine in the car, if the bores and the pistons and the ring lands are okay, but that's more than a big "if" -- it's perilously close to a fools "if."

 

So if the goal is instead to come out of it with a decent engine, you're probably better dropping the motor.

 

As someone who just dropped a subframe because of a cracked engine mount ear, it's really pretty easy. Letting the engine down on it ain't that much more work.