>From: Matthew Milkevitch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Fellow Listers; > >Since I am a new Spitfire owner and a new member of this list, I'd >like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and ask for some >advice. My name is Matt Milkevitch and I reside in Willow Grove PA >(north of Philadelphia).
Welcome to the list and greetings from Hatfield PA! I don't get to Willow Grove much anymore now that they opened a Best Buy in Montgomeryville, but I have family and family in-laws in Horsham, so I'm often driving around there. Look for a bright red 78 that looks good from 100 feet (or more!), but rusty, bondo-ed and somewhat tired closer up. <snip> > >The car is at home and I've been working on it, trying to free up the >engine. I got it to turn, but it only turns over about half-way. I >removed the cylinder head in order to perhaps more fully diagnose the >problem and I believe that it will not turn over because there is a >fair amount of rust on the sides of #3 cylinder. I think that once the >piston rings encounter this rust the piston sticks and hence the >engine will not turn over further. > I'm not an engine whiz, but I would suggest maybe unbolting the con rod from the crank on #3 and then trying to turn it over by hand. If it's free now, you know it's #3; if no better, you may need to look elsewhere. My totally uninformed opinion is that rust on the cylinder walls would not have stopped the starter from turning over the engine; more likely the ring would have broken. But that's the opinion of a very much not-the-expert. >Question 1: Its clear that this rust needs to be removed, what would >be the best way to go about it? Fine steel wool, scotch-brite? > No idea, sorry. I would think you would need to hone it. >Question 2: Once the rust has been removed and the piston is >free...does it sound reasonable to clean out the motor as much as >possible and attempt to get it running? Perhaps the "better" >suggestion would be to pull the motor, disassemble it and have it >hot-tanked. > I'm not sure what you mean by clean it out. I would replace the main and rod bearings and definitely the thrust washers (about $50 worth of parts). Then it's less likely that you will have a catastrophic failure that would make a rebuild either impossible or prohibitively expensive. Good luck and welcome aboard! Greg Rowe _________________________________________________________________ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com /// [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list /// Send admin requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] /// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool /// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive /// Send list postings to [EMAIL PROTECTED] /// Edit your replies! If they include this trailer, they will NOT be sent.
