We then ordered about $70 in parts. We look forward to re-assembling the engine and see how solid it is!
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
The Engine Turns!
After much soaking and cleaning up of cylinder walls, we finally got a little rough with it and used a sledge hammer and block of steel to break cylinder #2 free. Once we got it moving then things went pretty quick. We cleaned up all four cylinder walls, they all look good. Did some prep work for reassembly - removed tappet covers and got the tappets put back in place (four had come out of their holes), cleaned up the threads on the exhaust manifold pipe connection, then took inventory of what parts we need to start this thing up. Here's some video of the pistons moving (Ray's under the car rotating the harmonic balancer with a wrench):
We then ordered about $70 in parts. We look forward to re-assembling the engine and see how solid it is!
We then ordered about $70 in parts. We look forward to re-assembling the engine and see how solid it is!
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Cylinder #2 - It's Gunky!
Today we started on the MGA, specifically the stuck engine. We had loaded the cylinders with PB Blaster and Marvel Mystery Oil two months ago and let it soak.
First try was with a wrench on the harmonic balancer bolt. No luck. Second try was pushing the car in gear while in the garage. No luck. Third attempt was with a battery and jumper cables to the starter. No luck. Fourth attempt used a pull strap and a diesel truck.
This is the setup:
Tires dragged easily across the gravel, so moved to library parking lot across the street. Left rubber on the lot:
At this point we decided this motor was not likely to break free easily, so we proceeded to remove the cylinder head and see what's inside. Here's what we found inside cylinder #2:
The other three look fine. Also the previous oil we had put in had dripped down into the pan on the other three cylinders but not in #2, it's well sealed around the piston to the cylinder walls so there was about a 1/2 inch of oil in there!
The cylinder head was also very gunky around #2:
So the question now is, did the corrosion occur after the car was parked in the early '90's, or did it occur prior to that event? We were told it ran when parked, making you think it occurred later.
At any rate, we are going to use steel wool and clean up the walls of the cylinder and see if it can look more like the other three. Then see if we can use a sledge and wood block to get the piston to move. If it moves and cylinder wall cleans up, then perhaps we'll do a valve job and put it back together and see how it runs!
First try was with a wrench on the harmonic balancer bolt. No luck. Second try was pushing the car in gear while in the garage. No luck. Third attempt was with a battery and jumper cables to the starter. No luck. Fourth attempt used a pull strap and a diesel truck.
This is the setup:
Tires dragged easily across the gravel, so moved to library parking lot across the street. Left rubber on the lot:
At this point we decided this motor was not likely to break free easily, so we proceeded to remove the cylinder head and see what's inside. Here's what we found inside cylinder #2:
The other three look fine. Also the previous oil we had put in had dripped down into the pan on the other three cylinders but not in #2, it's well sealed around the piston to the cylinder walls so there was about a 1/2 inch of oil in there!
The cylinder head was also very gunky around #2:
So the question now is, did the corrosion occur after the car was parked in the early '90's, or did it occur prior to that event? We were told it ran when parked, making you think it occurred later.
At any rate, we are going to use steel wool and clean up the walls of the cylinder and see if it can look more like the other three. Then see if we can use a sledge and wood block to get the piston to move. If it moves and cylinder wall cleans up, then perhaps we'll do a valve job and put it back together and see how it runs!
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