Joesprocket

I believe the whiteish squiggly line you see in cyl 1 is dog hair. Golden Retriever.

Hi everyone, hope you've enjoyed a weekend if not a long weekend for some. If you had a chance to turn your wheels I hope you did that, too. Given the seized condition of the motor I decided it was best to pull the head and investigate a little further. Thought I share some pics of a motor that's been sitting since 79'. I what you see in the pics is what's to be expected. There is quite a build up of cruddy old coolant in water passages and pump. Lots of carbon build up on both piston heads and valves. A week ago I poured a bottle of water in the hot/cold divider (to see if it could reach the coolant drain plug - it didn't) and today found water in all the cylinders which makes sense because the head gasket was pretty brittle. What a mess...but again. not sure i should expect more than exactly this. I plan on pulling the rest of the motor from the car to do a full rebuild but was curious from folks more experienced if there's any advantage of trying to free the pistons now while it's secured on the mounts vs pulling it and then trying to do it? My thought is to free them now with time, penetrating fluid and wooden post and mallet. Trying to work the crankshaft nut is not showing any sign up these pistons giving way. If there's anything else you see in the pics that looks like this motor is in trouble please shout them out.

I've slowing been working my way to understand why the motor is stuck. After working the crank back and forth and trying just about every penetrating oil out there I decided next step is to pull the head. Every night I'd chip away. Remove a part. Bag and tag it. I've never really gone beyond replacing a water pump so this is new depths for me. Thanks to this site and the trusty haynes manual it's a fairly straight forward process. The results of the stuck pistons and the condition of the valves is about what I'd suspect after sitting for 40 plus years. Lots of carbon build up. Crud inside the water chambers/jacket. And just overall a big mess. I'm devoting all priorities of time and money to saving this motor. In seeing this I'm not sure I can just free these pistons with a mallet and simply put a rebuild head back on. I believe this will require removing the entire motor. Breaking it down and rebuilding outside the car.

How about for the key itself? I’d like something that’s as close to orig as possible. I think I saw Blunt Tech selling NOS or repop blanks with similar shape. eBay? Parts classifieds?

I've heard folks talk about this elusive "white sticker" behind the ignition tumbler with the cars unique key code. My car also came with no keys and having come across this thread I was reminded to go look for this sticker. This has got to be it right? Holding breath over here. (apologies if this is thread jacks. I've just never seen a pic of this) FullSizeRender.heic

Thanks for the luck...gonna need it. I'm holding onto the seats. They're about the only thing I dont have to worry about. Ashland is really close. We should plan a meet up or beers.

Great I'm on it. Thanks everyone.

Mort - I'm rebuilding mine simply due to the lack of use over many years which has rendered them relics. Other folks who have solid drivers may replace if they notice the pads are wearing unevenly or if the car pulls to the side under braking. I believe these are both early signs of the pistons going bad but curious to hear what others have to say.

That's a great lead, @Mike Self I will certainly look into White Post to see if these are worthy candidates for a rebuild by them. And yes, these are 2 piston calipers and my thinking, at least at this point, is to retain the single line brake set up to each of the front wheels @uai thanks for the ID

Your car has a story. Whether it came with one that you're continuing or didn't and you're starting fresh. The story is the bond between you and the machine. It's the thing you share every time someone asks you about it. Sure there's the gas station shorter version but there's also the full directors cut that you love sharing to anyone interested in hearing. If you're thinking it's BS go to a car show and walk past the folks sitting behind their cars in folding chairs with a photobook proudly staged next to them. The photobook is the story. It's in every gas fill up, oil change, plug, nut and bolt receipt ever saved. All artifacts of the story. This old car is new to me so I've had to tell "the story" several times over the last month. All different variations in length depending on the audience. It started with a servicemen coming home from Vietnam, reading some article in Car and Driver and running to make a smart purchase. It then had the same story from '79 to '023 which was to sit and rot. Year after year. I came along, made a crazy ass decision and now the story continues. And I'm here for it. That's gotta be the best part of keeping, preserving and driving these cars. It's all about the stories.

Driver side tire would not turn and it turned out to be the caliper frozen/rusted to the rotor. Thankfully the car decided to let it go after some persuasion. I went ahead and removed the old pads but before going through the trouble of blowing out the pistons I figured I'd tap the group to see if it's worth restoring and continue using these OG calipers. I see that I can readily buy refurbished sets on ebay for $200 + shipping but I could probably save a few bucks and do it myself. Is it a bad idea to try and save these bad boys? Also I don't recognize the 2 metal clips at the bottom of the 1st image and still inserted in the 2nd image. Can someone help ID? thank you, thank you!

The day I found the car on BringATrailer I kinda had the feeling that this was "the one". I wasn't necessarily looking for an example in such sad shape as this one but I'm a sucker for a good candidate - which this one I believe is. I decided to buy the car from the original owner here in VA and as it turned out he paid the same price for it in 69' as I did with my winning bid...$3,700. Since the car has been parked since 1979 the underside has not seen the east coast salt as much as other cars have which has preserved the normal spots for rust and corrosion. Don't get me wrong...there's rust. It's just the kind where you're wearing the subframe is going to fold in half at speed down the highway. I suppose in some ways I think it's kinda ridiculous to think with my limited experience I have skillset to bring back a car like this. All I can say is, that inexperience is balanced with sort of unwavering curiosity and pure love of these cars and their heritage. I've always enjoyed the process of getting myself into tough situations and problem solving my way out of them and this really isn't much different. The idea is to free myself from a time line and eat the elephant one bite at a time.

question on this approach…. Is my socket/breaker bar receiving a nut or a bolt on the crank pulley. In either instance, won’t I end up just loosening the nut/bolt before potentially turning/freeing whatever is stuck? My plan is draining the oil and coolant and shooting 1:1 ATF and acetone down spark plug holes and let soak before attempting any torquing.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the interest, encouragement and honest assessments. @thehackmechanic - looking forward to reading your piece and adding to the developing recovery story and yes please post back once it's released. I believe any elephant-sized project is worthy of an equally as large plan so while I'm removing 40 some years of 'barn life' this window of elbow grease time is giving me the chance to do just that. For starters, @Mike SelfI'm going to look into Kroil. The can design alone makes it worth the purchase. Joe Insta: @joseiden_bmwerke

Hi everyone, Joe here in Richmond Virginia and wanted to take a minute to reintroduce myself to the group and bring forth my new project, a 69’ that’s in darn good shape considering the shape I found it in. I picked this up a couple weeks ago on a no reserve listing from bringatrailer. The car happened to be 15 minutes from me so I was able to get eyes on for the most part - more on that in a second. Believe it or not the seller (original owner) and I both paid $3,700 to get into this car. Him on 1/21/69 and me on 1/22/23. Crazy how that worked out. He parked it due to a faulty clutch, couldn’t stand the thought of selling it so just left it parked. For 44 years. So here I am the proud new owner with really no timeline or expectation of a full restore. My plan is to get it back on the road safely and reliably. Last will come any form of cosmetics or paint. Here’s what seems like is going well for it. On the inside of the car it looks just be surface rust on the driver side tunnel. Pedal box is a similar story - surface rust but no holes. I can get that under control. Wheels wells and underside of floor pan are all solid. Shock towers look good as does under the spare tire. I believe someone’s theory was correct in that this car has been rusting from the top down so the critical areas have been spared. There is some rust areas in the rockers that need to be address but nothing too bad. Here’s the the known issues where I now come to this group seeking “where to start” advice: The engine is seized. Could be a stuck valve? Could be the rings are rusted to the cylinder walls. My thought here is to remove the head and take a look. The dip stick is showing a relatively clear oil which tells me the seller or someone tried to give it a soak with no luck. I know it’s gonna need a rebuild but man I’d love to free it up before sending it away. Before removing the head is there anything I should try ahead of that? Accelerator, brake and clutch are all seized. Have not gone in with penetrating oil to loosen anything up but as I get into it I know all these things need to be replaced or refreshed. Front driver’s side wheel is seized. Same here. Have yet to pull the wheel to check in on bearings but this can wait until the above are addressed. Appreciate any tips on entry points to this project. Including a step by step on the head removal. I'm familiar with the step of hanging the chain to not lose timing but beyond that I've never ventured this far into the drivetrain. I'm cautiously excited to learn this as this is why i bought the car in the first place. Also if there are any Richmond members who wanna lend a hand I pay in weizens! Thanks everyone, good to be back and happy to have rescued one from the brink. If you're on Instagram and care to follow along with my progress, including a video of a really satisfying car wash, the handle is joseiden_bmwerke

Hey everyone - figured I'd let my Mid-Atlantic folks know that I'm selling my 76 Chamonix car. I'm in Richmond VA if you or someone you know is interested and in the area. Here's a link to the page in our classifieds. Regards, Joe