Month: October 2018

Blocked

I found it impossible to make any decision about the future of my ‘Bird without knowing exactly what was wrong. So, last weekend I took a few hours and tore into the motor.

On Saturday, I did the light work, removing accessories, draining the radiator and digging as far down as the rocker shafts. Sunday, my son came down the help with the heavy work: hood, intake manifold and the head itself.

The motor with all the “easy” stuff removed.

Getting the hood off is a coordinated effort involving two people, each using both hands and a shoulder to hold things up while the bolts come off. Once it was safely stored away, we removed the bolts from the intake and chained it to a hoist. It was sealed on pretty well and took a significant amount of force (and just a little prying) before it popped off.

The head gasket looked ok.

We left the exhaust manifold bolted to the head, disconnecting it from the collector pipe instead. The head bolts were all tight. Once they were off, it only took a little persuasion from the hoist to break it free. Up to this point, we hadn’t found any issues, though the oil in the driver’s side valve cover and (to a lesser extent) in the valley was fouled with coolant. There were no obvious cracks in the block and the head gasket was still intact.

The “milkshake” in the valve cover indicating water in the oil.

The piston in the bad cylinder was at the top of its stroke, so we had to turn the motor over by hand to move it to the bottom. Once we did, we found an obvious crack about 2 inches long in the cylinder wall. The crack was deep enough to get a fingernail in.

The #1 cylinder was steam cleaned.

This engine will never run again.

The crack is clearly visible. Looks like there’s been some additional damage from the bits of metal floating around in there, too.

In order to get this car back on the road, it’ll need a new motor. A used motor seems like too much of a risk, especially after this experience. Fixing the motor I have–eight new sleeves, clean, magnaflux and install a new rotating assembly–adds up to about $4,000. Buying a pre-built motor (essentially the same thing, but with a different block) is about the same price.

Compressed

I crawled under the car late yesterday afternoon and reinstalled the starter. After pulling the rest of the plugs (on the driver’s side of the motor) and finding no other surprises, I spun the motor a few times to pump out what I could of the coolant in the #1 cylinder.

That done, I took some quick compression readings on numbers 1 through 4. The coolant-filled cylinder read very high, probably a result of some fluid still in there. The other readings were nominal, in the 70-80 range.

I hate the sound of the motor spinning with no resistance.

On the plus side, there’s no indication of water in the oil. However, in looking back over my blog, there’s some indication that I’ve been mysteriously losing coolant since at least the summer of 2013.

With the coolant mostly purged, I’m pretty sure the car will start. (Heck, I could probably even start it with one plug missing.) If so, I’ll see about moving it outside where I can tear it down. Once I know what I’m really dealing with, I can make some decisions on how to proceed.

The End of the Road?

I replaced my battery yesterday. Starting, especially hot, was a little labored and after eight years, I figured it was due.

With everything buttoned up and a few shots of starting fluid in the carb, I turned the key. After a few seconds, it sounded like she was about to grab. Instead, there was a bang and everything stopped turning.

I tried the key a couple more times, but the starter would only strain. I could see the fan move slightly, then bounce back when the key was off.

Today, I pulled the starter. It was a little worn, with a few teeth chipped, but it otherwise appeared sound. At first, I assumed something inside it had jammed; I figured I could replace it and hope for the best.

Before making a run to the auto parts store, I thought to pull the spark plugs and turn the motor over by hand–just to be sure. When I pulled the plug for the #1 cylinder, it came out wet. At first, I thought it was oil fouled, but the liquid was coolant. And the cylinder was completely full of it.

The last time I drove the car, in February, I put about a gallon and a half of coolant in it before starting. It ran fine. Apparently, though, the early warning signs were there.

An internet search didn’t turn up much for “coolant in cylinder,” but what I found suggests a cracked block, a fatal condition. I’ll have to give the future of this car some thought, but today it certainly feels like the end of a chapter.