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It's Mothers' Day Weekend in Australia, which means I won't be able to do any work on the coupe on Saturday or Sunday; family takes priority. But luckily I was able to spend 2 hours after work on Friday afternoon. Here's what I got done.

1 Found the oil pan plug, (thank you O_D and Mal), cleaned it up and drained the oil pan.

2 Cleaned and opened the fuel tank plug. The boss, socket and plug all looked in excellent condition. Collected about five litres of old fuel the colour and clarity of well-filtered quince jelly.

3 Next task was to open the line from the fuel tank to the fuel filter. First I uncoupled the line out from the fuel tank. Then moved to the engine bay. I immediately noticed a problem with the short piece of hose running from a union into the fuel filter; there is a hole in the hose near the filter. Removed the hose, confirmed the problem, put it aside to take to town for repair next week. :(

4 Used the air compressor to flush the fuel line for sludge. None came out, just clean air.

5 Cleaned the fuel filter bowl and replaced it. I noticed that the mesh screen in the filter looks a bit corroded and occluded. I assume that will need replacement?

And finally:

6 Attempted to rotate the engine by rotating the fan. The fan and its shaft rotate reluctantly, but the fan belts just slip in their pulleys and the crank shaft does not rotate. (spark plugs are out and it's in neutral). Should I take that as a bad sign?

Thanks for everyone's interest and help.

John

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Should I take that as a bad sign?

Well, not a good sign, but not necessarily indicative of big problems either. Many an engine that failed to turn over after long hibernation has been returned to service without disassembly or repair. And on the flip side I've seen folks use a block of wood and a sledge hammer on the head of a piston to try to break it free from the cylinder wall. Your problem could be at either extreme or in between.

Best advice is to have a lot of patience, go slowly and gently, doing no harm. Two of the several probable reasons it won't turn over, one far more serious that the other. Could be just the rusting of the cast iron piston rings to the cylinder walls and treatment with things like PB Blaster or your favorite rust-busting snake oil and gentle persuasion may well break it loose. A more serious situation would be if the headgasket failed and ethylene glycol-based antifreeze got into the cylinders - that would corrode and swell the piston in the bore and require disassembly to begin to look at the repair needs. It also could be valves rusted to their guides - this usually (but not always) requires removal of the cylinder head to resolve.

If a couple of weeks of penetrating oil and gentle persuasion don't do it, I'd suggest you remove the cylinder head for an examination.

As to the fuel pump filter mesh, it's normally included in the better fuel pump rebuild kits and I'd consider a fuel pump rebuild a required job to put the car back in service.

ditto on above. but have you tried a breaker bar on the crank bolt itself? sure it should turn by the fan, but the best way is to take a breaker bar to the crank and give it a good push. see what happens. but I would pour marvel mystery oil in the cylinders and let it sit a few days first.

ditto on above. but have you tried a breaker bar on the crank bolt itself

IIRC unless it's been replaced there is no traditional bolt holding the vibration damper, it's a threaded post with a cross-pin for the crank. Without a special tool the only way to engage it is with the crank which has a very short throw, not much leverage. It can be a bugger to remove but I suppose you could remove it and replace it with a common bolt. Alternatively you could make the type of tool used to remove it, take a large socket that will fit over the OD and grind two deep notches to accommodate the pin ends.

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again with the showing of my age....geesh.

sorry, I just figured it was held on by a bolt.

I just checked mine and it has a bolt. But it sure is a tight fit to put a breaker bar on it, so your idea was not that far off. Lets leave our age out of it Henry cause it's going way too fast already!

BDC, I know that 1935 and on didn't come with a crank, but do they still have the removable crank hole cover in the lower grille? Probably not if they use a conventional bolt for the damper. I should know this but it escapes me at the moment.

Another way to keep constant pressure on the engine to rotate would be to pressurize a cylinder from a compressed air supply.

Once again you have all been very generous with your info and advice, and I thank you for it. So much to think about, there.

I don't think the Marvel Mystery Oil is available in Australia so I need to go in search of something similar from local shops. If I can find a product that dissolves rust as well as lubricates, I'll be ecstatic.

I will also go on a web hunt for a fuel pump rebuild kit; unless there is a specific product or source that people would recommend?

I'm reluctant to try to rotate the shaft too forcefully; I like O_D's philosophy of doing no harm. I also like the idea of putting a little air pressure in a cylinder, but I'll have to conjure up a fitting for that.

Also, none of my imperial spanners seem to fit anything, so I've been using shifters so far, which is far from satisfactory. Am I missing something obvious here; is this a thread size versus across flat thing? Please excuse my ignorance, haven't worked under a hood for decades, and of course everything modern here is metric!

Thankful, John

John,

You should be able to buy a set of SAE/AF spanners(ring and open end) and sockets from places like Repco, Supercheap Auto, Big W, Kmart, etc. Maybe even Bunnings?

John, a mixture of ATF (automatic transmission fluid) & diesel and/or aceton will loosen things up.

O_D, the 35's don't have the removable crank hole cover. Even if it was removable there's no hole in the crossmember. I'll take a picture on my 35 eight sedan where my grill is taken off. Also I tried to take a picture of the bolt, but it's a tight fit to get my phone in there for a picture.

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