Cranky case

Now that the engine is on a stand, I can do a better job of figuring out why it won't turn. So, I took a coffee break today and opened up the bottom of the engine. The deconstruction probably took 30 minutes.

I turned off the umpteen oil pan bolts and managed to lower it without spilling the sump. Actually - it looks pretty good. A lot less sludgy than I was expecting after 60 years. I did drop a wrench in there by accident - and gladly it neither splashed everywhere nor did it completely swallow the tool before I grabbed it.

I had to remove the oil pump in the process. This weird thing has an oil pump outside the engine. You can see it in the upper left corner of the picture above. It seems to turn - so that is positive.

I also removed the fuel pump. It is mechanical - with a lever that slides into the front cover and is pushed up and down by an eccentric wheel somewhere in there. I don't have the front cover off yet - but the pump and fuel filter came off without incident. I also removed the mounting brackets from the engine. I needed a cheater bar to get them to budge, but once I did that they came out. One side was decidedly more rusty than the other for some reason.

I did spend several minutes attempting to inspect the crank case by squating down and looking up at it. That is hard to do. Plus the occassional drip of oil wants to hit you in the face. Definitely not very ergonomic. 

Eventually I remembered that the engine stand is a 'rotisserie' and that I can turn the beast upside down to look at it. I was so very excited that I could flip it over - so I failed to remember the lesson I have taught myself 4 times already. This beast is like a turtle. It is holding its water in case you try to pick up it. As soon as I started to rotate it, it gushed another quart of coolant from the water jacket onto the floor. I tried too late to catch it in a bucket without getting soaked.

So far, the inspection has revealed nothing obvious about why it is stuck. There is no broken rod or bearing that I can see, feel or hear. There is a painted rod cap. I think that means that specific journal is a different size - but I am not really sure. I am pretty sure the issue is simply rust - and I am pretty sure the solution is hammering them out the top or the bottom.

The timing chain slides front and back on that pulley, but it does not have enough slack that I can pull it away to slip anything under it (which I think is good).

I will get the water pump / timing cover off next - but that is for a different day. And yes - I did mop up the brown orange skanky water mess, but that was later in the day.