Think Im going to be sick. brand new flathead siezed.

I feel very Ill.

my engine, after starting for the first time after a very costly and protracted rebuild, has now Locked up. something is way wrong in there.

I got it running two days ago, it basically fired straight up, ran at 2500 for about 15 mins to break in the cam, all good..then let it idle, had a mechanical noise i couldnt put my finger on, thought maybe a lifter had wound loose? any way let it cool, retorqued heads, restarted, and the noise seemed to have gone, ran it for ten or so minutes a couple of times, moved back and forth to check the clutch, all AOK.
Have started it twice today, and actually driven it on and off the hoist to fix a brake leak. it sounded brilliant, and revved up real nice..(lightened flywheel)

anyway, went to start it about an hour ago, starter just goes clunk. thought the starter might be shitty (i rebuilt it myself, so always a little dubious on my electrics skills!?) pulled it out, all fine. with a 15" shifter on the crank nut i cant budge the engine. Fuck. I feel so rotten right now.
pulled the plugs thinking maybe a massive coolant leak caused a hydraulic lock, nope, all dry.

This is a '39 Merc 239 motor, basically stock, mild cam, new pistons ,crank ground, all good stuff and everything double checked on assembly..it turned over beutifully at all stages of assembly, and ran Great for around an hour all told, now its locked solid.

anyone have any words of wisdom before i pull my 90% finished 32 roadster into a pile of pieces again....

 

Oil pressure while it was running?
Is there oil in the crank case?

.

 

Yeh oil pressure was excellent, read up to 80 PSI on a cheapo guage i got just to start it, I doubt this gauge is accurate, but lots of pressure anyway.have settled down a little bit now, will pull the sump and look at the mains and big ends..

The Mains were checked at 2.5 thou, and when i final assembled the engine you could spin it nicely with your hand before the pistons/rods went in, and i preassembled all the rods on the crank, and burnished the bearings with scotchbrite until they all felt even with only a small amount of drag as the rods fell, which is correct to all the info on full floaters i could find..rods were resized to the largest factory ID .. basically I did all I could to ensure the bottom end of this engine was perfect..and the Flathead gods have Kicked my ass . Hard.

 

More thoughts..It MUST be a main bearing. no way a rod bearing could lock a motor that hard after it started and ran so sweet.

ah fuck i feel really ill now.

 

I have heard of a similar thing happen to a guy over here,hope it works out for you.
Nice looking Rod.

 

Regardless of the number of precautions its usualy something simple like an oil gallery plug overlooked.Pull it back out and go over the basics.

 

It probably wouldnt hurt to get away from it for a day or two.

Do you have a motorcycle....... If so, take a two day trip.

Just trying to help, I know I would be freaking out, throwing tools.

Get away from it for a while.

 

PM kiwi mal ,he was the guy who had the same issues,,,,,, ,Hes a good guy who will help ya

 

Yeh, I hope it aint an oversight..i doubt it, used to build porsche race motors for a living..the high oil pressure is the only sign something was amiss, maybe i shouldnt attribute it to a cheap gauge.

 

Not true. My buddy's hemi locked after a couple of days of hot rod glory. We put it up on a lift and pulled the oil pan. Three spun rod bearings, one bearing-half spun itself under the other and that was it, locked up solid. Mostly caused by aluminum shavings galling into the bearings. Three kinds of metal in the oil pan. He was pretty ill too but it all worked out okay.

Sorry man, maybe its something simple!! Hope it turns out for the best!!

 

No wisdom here....just some empathy

It sucks to be on the verge and then contemplate another huge obstacle.

Go and have a "Gringo" breakfast at El Mirage and get some perspective on life. You probably need it.

 

Oh man that sucks, I hope its an easy fix! Best of luck with it.
Doc.

 

Sorry to hear this lowsquire , youve built a nice little car too , sounds like the crank not gettin' oil somewhere , you can have high oil pressure but you only have to have one oil gallery blocked etc and instant lock up

anything to do with Y blocks n flatheads , ya gotta have lady luck on your side and ya gotta be wearin' the right coloured shirt

I always reckon ...its better to have high volume than high pressure

cheers Steve in Oz

 

I agree about the 'GRINGO' breakfast at El Mirage Cafe. It works for me after a big "experience'. Helps you to focus on the 'real' issues. . . . . . and maybe remember what happened last night. . . . .

 

Wow that's tough.
Just pull the motor. expect the worst, pull the sump first, if nothing obvious, pull the heads.
Question: if you put it in top gear, can you rotate it backwards? if it is something in the valvetrain, you should be able to turn it almost 2 turns.
Best just pull the motor and look for damage. Whatever it is can only be made worse by keeping on trying to turn it.
Keeping my fingers crossed for you.
Mart.

 

That's not good news at all Ben. Especially after all the bullshit you went through to get the work done on it in the first place. Can't help you with any ideas, other than pull the intake and sump and go from there.

Between you and Corey I'm having second thoughts on tearing mine down for a freshen up.....

 

I have a friend that had the same problem a few years back after he rebuilt his flathead. The 4 bolts that hold the flywheel on were too long and they gauld the back of the block till the motor locked up. Good luck, I'm pullin for yah.

 

Sure seems like it spun a rod bearing for what ever reason. Locking up is not good but the way it did it I doubt it's damaged to much. On a new motor any damage is bad but maybe the motor Gods will be kind on the flatty. Very sorry to hear of your situation.

 

Find a calm friend to help you and take it slowly man . On a positive note , Grant dropped in to our show last week (Rumble pic's on ozrodder ) Your old RPU does'nt miss a beat ! Christ I don't think he gets out of it .... He said it makes a great shootin rig ....
Best of luck ...

 

Fuck no after all the shit you went thru to get it done....shit !!

BEFORE you do ANYTHING ....pull the plugs and crank it...if you have a leak/pinhole in the bore or a leaking head gasket and there is water in the cylinfer, the engine will have hydrauliced into LOCk mode.

Pull the plugs and see if it'll crank dude.

The water will gush outta the bore if so and you'll have found the prob. Hope its that simple..

Ring you tomoz to see waht to story is.

Good luck.

 

I'm leaning toward a rist pin locking up. Had the same thing happen to a Six banger we had.

 

nope no water in the bores rat, checked that first..three foot breaker bar will not even budge the crank.its locked solid, believe me.

Glad to hear Grant is thrashin on the RPU..

I KNOW there are no blocked passages, missed gallery plugs or any other obvious problems with the oiling system..everything was rechecked many times..I even rebuilt the original oil pump because I dont believe any aftermarket manufacturer built components to the same standards Ford did...I knew the shit Flatoz went through..and was determined to not have this happen..fuck it.

 

Are you running a remote oil filter? Modified the path of oil to filter it? If the lines to the remote filter (if you have one) are backwards it could register oil pressure at the filter but not have any at the engine.

 

Dude, when you fitted the crank without the rods/psitons you mentioned that the crank turned real nice and that the clearances checked out OK.

So its gotta be in the rod bearings/pins yes?

What would cause the mains to lock up like that it they checked out real nice and turnover TQ was real low? Weird.

Did you check crank end play?

Also, is the Supra trans adaptor correct for the input shaft length of the trans? If its too long for the combo itll jamb the crank as the input shaft bearing would be in the flywheel - I had to put mine in the crank to allow for the 1/2" longer input shaft on the trans.

Just puttin it out there.....

Chat tomoz

Rat

 

A buddy had a 383 Chrysler that locked up minutes after first start, with lots of oil pressure. Turned out he'd put the solid main bearings in the block so no oil got to the crank! What colour was his red face??!!

 

Man that sucks, I hate when this shit happens hope it works out for you.

 

Damn, sorry to hear this. Yank that motor outta there.........and put a SBC in it (*running and ducking for cover*)! Just tryin to brighten the mood. Hope it works out for ya. Car looks great, BTW.

 

geez.

you shouldn't have visited me yesterday! Man, this was not what I was looking to read as I had my nightcap before bed.

Now you've got my head spinning on what it could be.

realistically regardless of all the 'maybes' thrown at you. forget them.

get the motor out of the car and pull the pan and intake and go from there.

you would have to think bearings first, but not necessarily. mine went south due to cam/crank gear backlash.

believe me I CAN feel for you. They can all but break you these motors.

was going to call you and see if you had any luck with those rod ends, but I guess thats the last issue now.

 

That sucks BIG Time! I hope it's a simple fix. It sounds to me like you are the most qualified to fix it. Hopefully it won't keep you from driving that beautiful car for very long.
Don't let it kick your ass.

 

Will it turn back the other way?

Seen a couple of times clutch bolts come loose and lodge themselves in. Double check the transmission oil, maybe it's locked up and not the engine. Try pushing in the clutch and see if it will turn over.....