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Time to start an official project thread for the maybe parts car/maybe more.

Back in March I came across a Facebook ad for '53 Clipper that was in rough shape, but dirt cheap. The guy wanted $500 for it and just wanted it gone. I was able to talk him down to $300 and it was conveniently located in Oregon on our way home from a family vacation. So we rented a U-Haul trailer, had an absolute nightmare getting it on (all tires were trashed), then drove home while people gave us strange looks. I couldn't pass up a parts car for $300.




It was equally a nightmare getting it off the trailer. I dropped it next to the shop where it wouldn't be such a sore thumb. I didn't do much until last month, when I decided to get it prepped to start working on the engine. To do that, the car needed to be moved to the front of the shop. None of the tires would hold air, so my first project was to get tires on it to make it roll.

I figured while the wheels were off I might as well clean them up and paint them, because why not? So after some work and time I was able to clean them up, remove all the rust, primer, then painted with some Massey Ferguson Red tractor paint. I mixed it 4:2:1. The reason for red was if I ended up saving the car I would probably not paint it and would leave it as a bit of a mess...the red wheels seemed to fit the look.










I couldn't find any used tires in 225/75-15 or 235-75/15 after searching locally for several weeks. A local tire shop had some but they were almost as expensive as new tires. So Amazon to the rescue and I found some Hankook Synergy in 235/75-15 for less than $90 a piece. They even have a small white wall on them. I wanted to try the larger size (compared to 225/75-15) to see how they looked and handled.




There it sat for several weeks bothering my wife. I used the opportunity to talk about how nice a '56 400 would look. She saw through my ruse, but deep down I'm sure she really wants a nice Mojave Tan and Dover White 400.




The kids began to include Rusty in the family, even going so far as to build and paint a pinewood derby car in honor of him. The car actually did surprisingly well, managing to finish in about 5th place out of nearly 30.




With the cold weather setting in it was time to move Rusty inside so disassembly could begin on the engine to see if it was salvageable. Rolling wheel casters made it possible to stuff it in sideways.




-Kevin

With Rusty in the shop I could start working on checking the engine. I had previously removed the grille (which had been replated by a previous owner) and used it on my '54 Panama. I had also removed the front bumper (which is all sorts of bent). I then removed the radiator, which actually looked pretty good. There was still a decent amount of coolant sitting in the system. I will eventually get the radiator boiled out and pressure tested. If it checks out then I can at least use it for a spare.




With the radiator out of the way I put a socket and breaker bar on the crankshaft bolt. The engine did not budge at all. Not surprising, given how much rust is on the car. It was obviously stored in a very wet environment. I eventually was able to get all the spark plugs out (3 were seized with rust....I had to break off the ceramic and cut the plugs shorter to fit a bolt extractor socket. That did the trick. I dumped Marvel down each plug hole and let it sit for several days. No difference.

So the next task was to get the head off to see what's going on inside. After disconnecting everything that attaches to the head, I used small putty knife on the front two corners to get the edge to separate. As soon as it did I was able to get some wood wedges pounded in. I continued pounding in wedges down the drivers side until it had all released. It was tough to the head the rest of the way off due to the corrosion on the studs. I eventually got it off without damage.



There is a ton of carbon build up everywhere. All over the pistons, chambers, and valves. The cylinders have surface rust but there does not appear to be any pitting.















So it's pretty rough. My hope is that I can get the engine free with it in the car before I pull it. Any thoughts on what I should do next? I'm guessing the valves are stuck as well and the pistons.

I'm hoping to use this engine as a learning experience. If I can rebuild it, that would be great. I would love to learn. If it can't be rebuilt then I will salvage everything I can.

-Kevin

Well there's yer problem!

First of all, if you can't get it to budge even the slightest in either direction, the pistons are stuck. If valves were stuck you would at least have the play in the timing chain.

To get a piston unstuck, find the worst looking piston that is about halfway down the bore, and stick a block of wood down the bore, and start hammering. Should get it to budge. Once it moves a bit, work it back and forth with the crank bolt so you will be able to feel for stuck valves.

But realistically the best path forward is to just pull the crankshaft and drive the pistons out through the bottom of the block.

If cylinders actually hold liquid, maybe a couple rounds of evaporust as see if that help dissove any rust bonds.

Obviously, flush/change oil afterwards.

A lot of guys on other forums have had good luck freeing stuck engines with a mix of 50/50 ATF and acetone. Fill up each cylinder and let it soak. You could put the head back on, and fill each cyliner via the spark plug hole to overflowing. Let it sit for a week, try rocking the engine back and forth, wash, rinse, repeat.

I guess it comes down to your goals. If you want to get it running before machine work, I would get a head gasket, a carb rebuild kit, and start trying to free it up without further disassembly. If you want to learn how to rebuild an engine, I would start disassembling! Make sure you keep track of lifters, valves, etc. Your connecting rods should all be marked as to what cylinder they're from.

Either way, looks like fun!

Thanks for the advice guys. Going to Ken's question, my goal is to rebuild and gain experience. I did a bit of the rebuild on my dad's '38 Super, but that was under the direction of an old master mechanic, and I didn't get to do all that much. So I'm excited to tear it down and learn how to do everything from the ground up. It would be nice to get the engine rotating before I pull it and start disassembling though. But not necessary.

I covered the pistons in Marvel this morning and will let it sit while I'm at work. I'm curious to see if any of the pistons let the Marvel past. I'm going to start hammering with some wood when I get home tonight. We'll see what happens. Next step is the 50/50 ATF and acetone (I've read a lot about that too). If that all fails then the engine comes out and I'll have to disassemble it with brute force.

I'd keep some MMO with a little acetone on top of the pistons for several days. Using a block of wood an a hammer to bump on the pistons could help, but I would limit brute force in favor of many light to moderate bumps. I'd try to rock the crankshaft from time to time. I'd want to use an oil can to squirt MMO on the valve stems and into any ports that have a valve off the seat. If a few days of fiddling and bumping don't show results, try mixing some MMO with a little acetone and BlecheWhite and put about 1/4" of it in each cylinder after sopping up whatever oil may be standing in them. If you could mix up a thin mousse of acetone, Blechewhite and MMO, that would be good. A mix like that will attack rust, carbon, and varnish. If you get the engine to move, don't try to crank it over, but instead rock the crankshaft back and forth, moving it a little farther each way as it loosens up until you can move it at least half a revolution in each direction. That will avoid jamming debris between the pistons and cylinders. You'll probably need to wipe out the cylinders several times and add new oil/penetrant each time to keep the fluid fairly clean.

It's possible the engine is stuck because it is NOT severely worn out, so I'd proceed with some caution.

All of the "be careful" advice is right on.

Consider: A good junker shop vacuum with a surgical (small diameter) tube duct-taped onto its crevice tool, then extract the old MMO with particulates after youve soaked it...repeat with each soaking/rocking activity...be patient, if you do the recommended rocking steps many times you will get the crap out of there and the motion will steadily increase...most importantly dont rush it and score those pistons/cylinder walls.

TxGoat: It is the holiday season and I like your terminology "a thin mousse of acetone, Blechewhite and MMO"...maybe a Wassail of MMO with carbon spices as a chaser?

Again, in the spirit of the previous few replies, why not just pull the crankshaft, drop the pistons out the bottom, and go from there? That will eliminate unnecessary scoring of the bores.