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Re: [Shop-talk] how to loosen stuck pistons?

To: shop-talk@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] how to loosen stuck pistons?
From: "John T. Blair" <jblair1948@cox.net>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2011 18:57:17 -0400
At 04:02 PM 4/17/2011, BJNoSHOV8 wrote:

 >I've got an engine that's frozen (stuck).  My theory is that they 
ran it without oil.  The
 >bearings don't look bad but the small ends of the rods look like 
they got hot.  I need to get
 >the pistons knocked out.

The one thing that really hasn't been stressed is patience.  My 65 
Morgan sits in a garage with my dad's 2
street cars and his '48 Triumph TR-1800.  A couple of years ago, I 
went over to pull the plugs in the 2
antiques, and put some oil in the cyl. to keep them from 
seizing.  Well the TR was fine, but the Morgan
had had the engine freeze already.

So we started squirting PB-blast and oil in the cylinders and tried 
to rock the car with it in 3rd gear.  We'd
rock it for a couple of minutes several times a day for about a 
week.  Then we tried more PB-Blast and
Marvel's mystery oil.   And again rocked the car several times a day 
for the next week.  When that didn't
work, we pulled the head so we could see the pistons.  We now tried 
pouring some lacquer thinner, them
some Marvel's, PB-blast and oil, in each of the cylinders and rocking 
the car several times a day for several
days.  We were just about to give up when all of a sudden the pistons 
started to move.  We were then able
to turn the engine over with a socket on the crankshaft bolt.  After 
turning it over several times, and putting
some oil in the cylinders and turning the engine over again, we put a 
new head gasket on and torqued
everything down.  She fired right up no problem.

Good luck, just take your time.  If you do try tapping the pistons do 
it gently.  Don't come down real hard
with the hammer like you're trying to drive a nail home in 1 hit..


John

John T. Blair  WA4OHZ     email:  jblair1948@cox.net
Va. Beach, Va
Phone:  (757) 495-8229

           48 TR1800    48 #4 Midget    65 Morgan 4/4 Series V (B1106)
      75 Bricklin SV1 (#0887)    77 Spitfire    71 Saab Sonett III
                        65 Rambler Classic

Morgan:    www.team.net/www/morgan
Bricklin:  www.bricklin.org

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