You can skip down a bit to get the story, I'll start with the questions. I've never owned a Nailhead so I'm a beginner on this one. This is an engine that was rebuilt some time ago and left to sit. First question, do I need to replace / hone the wrist pins? They are so tight the majority of pistons cannot be tilted by hand on the connecting rod. The lithium grease used in assembly is old and congealed. I turned the engine one rotation before pulling it from the car, it required a 3' helper to turn it over. Second question: What's the best way to flush a block? There's all kinds of detritus from sitting with no spark plugs, including the potential of mud wasp hives. I need to thoroughly flush all the oil passages to get out all the old grease and insect parts. Third: How to I remove the water manifold from the timing cover? Feels like it's a rubber o-ring kind of thing but I'm reluctant to just start prying on it. I picked up a 1957 Buick Special in November. Unfinished restoration on a nice condition original Kansas car. It has the correct 364 Nailhead that had been rebuilt some time ago, and then left to sit with no spark plugs or dipstick. I was hoping I could avoid tearing it down but the dead earwigs in the oil pan clinched it, today I pulled the pistons and the crank will soon follow. On the good, it came from a dry climate with the hood was in place. The pistons and cam are new, the crank is new or someone did a nice job of machining it. Pistons are standard size and after all these years still had Marvel Mystery Oil sitting on top of them in the cylinders. Some with dead bugs in them. I drained a total of 7 quarts of MMO. On the bad, this poor thing was left open to become home to earwigs and mud wasps, and lithium grease was used extensively in the reassembly, now the consistency of clumpy toothpaste. This is my first Nailhead, I came from a Flathead Ford family. I know nothing of their quirks. I'm reading whatever I can find about them and have acquired an original service manual.
Get you a good gasket kit from Best Gasket and tear the whole thing down to a bare block. Keeping all parts, bolts, bearings well organized. Wash it with hot soapy waters and scrub the cylinder walls with ATF and white paper towels. Basically everything you would do to a block fresh from the machine shop. Get a new set of rings and take the old ones off. Then soak the pistons and rods in an atf acetone mix. See if this frees them up. If not then disassembly clean and reassemble. Clean all the white grease out of everything and reassemble the motor with a good assembly lube. I’ve done this with at least 10 motors over the years and had very good results. Just keep everything organized so all bearings and lifters go back where they were.
All good advice, but I don't get the need to replace the rings when it has never been run and the cylinders are not rusty.
you don’t have to, as long as your careful. I put new rings in because it’s cheap insurance and I’m paranoid. If I have to take rings off pistons, I’d prefer to put new ones on. If I don’t plan to do that then I will break a ring.
teambuick.com has all the manuals on line for the 57 Buick. They can be downloaded to boot. The engine manuals may be of some help. Here is a link that should take your there. https://www.teambuick.com/reference/library/57_chassis/index.php
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