Technical Reviving a 1952 Chevy with a seized 216

What do you guys think?
So when I took it apart there was nice green coolant in it so that’s good. As I said before there was noting in the crankcase at all so I had filled it up with used atf. I still haven’t tried to turn it since I pulled the head off and it’s been soaking. There doesn’t seem to be a good way to turn this engine by hand.

 

Can you try to put a prybar on the flywheel teeth? You can remove the inspection cover or the starter to do it. It looks pretty good but make shure you try to turn it both ways and that the valves are not stuck.

 

Hi!

I would cut an old spark plug and weld on a nut, put a grease fitting in the nut.
Mount the head with the old head gasket, fill one of the two cylinders in the middle (As they Are not at TDC or BDC) with ATF oil and use a grease gun to press the piston down with grease.

Did this on a Ford V4 that had been stored for more than 30 years (but I didn't take the heads off) I just took off the Valve rockers so the valves stayed closed.

Rune Waltoft

 

hummmm?

 

He must not have seen the image of the block with the head off.

 

I've seen worse. My favorite penetrating oil/solution is Kroil. Better than Deep Creep, I think. Some guys use an acetone/ATF mix. With the head off you could put a block of wood on top of 3 or 4 and hit it with a sledge hammer.

So there was no coolant in the cylinders? Since you have the head off you should have it checked for cracks anyway. Looks like 5 has the worst rust... Good luck.

 

That doesnt look too bad at all,i would try towing it with a truck or something,have some one sit in it and dump the clutch when you get good traction,wont hurt anything.maybe the tranny is stuck in gear?.

 

Assuming its a manual transmission, put it in high gear and rock the car.
Lots of mechanical advantage and a bit easier on things than dragging it. Mark your crank so you can tell if it moves. Once it starts to move it may be stiff for a bit but at least you will have an idea what you're in for.

 

Thanks for all the tips guys. I think I'll spray more penetrating oil over each one and add a little ATF and then rock it in gear. If that doesn't work, since the head is off now, I'll probably hit them each with a sledge to try to loosen things up.

I have the starter out, but there still isn't really a good way to pry on the flywheel. I was rocking it in gear before by tugging on it with my truck. I had tried all the gears. The trans or rest of the drive line isn't locked up because it rolls fine in neutral. It's still on my trailer, so I haven't been dragging it around, just jerking it up a few feet and then rolling it back in neutral.

If I get it to turn, I was thinking of running my ball hone in the cylinders that are down. Just making like one or two passes to clean it up using some oil of course. Then I could turn it around and do all the others. Then, I think I'll get a working starter in there and crank it all around with the head off until it seems pretty free before putting it back together.

 

you have the head off already, drop the pan and remove the pistons one at a time. the rings are probably frozen to the pistons and taking them out will allow you to loosen and clean them up.

 

Did you have any luck reviving it? Discovered this post and I have a 1952 Bel Air with the 216 that is seized and trying to get it going. I was surprised to see Moneta, I live out there and the car I'm working on is out in Ferrum.

 

Like the Tootsie Roll commercial says. “The World May Never Know.” Since he has not been back since 2019.