Pressing Situation

H

Harold R

501 Club
I have a pressing situation on my hands here. LOL :lol: The Super C Engine is out and on the stand......it has been soaking in Kroil for over a week, and I have yet to get the pistons to budge. Time to step it up! I took a rod cap off, and with a wood block, tried to drive the piston out of the top of the engine. I finally got movement, but it was sleeve and all. I wanted to try and salvage the rods and piston, so I took it to a friends house and we put it his press. That where it still sets. We put tons of pressure on it and it wouldn't budge. We weren't sure which way to push basically. My friend thought there may be a "choke" to the sleeve, so we pushed from bottom to top. We wedged the connecting rod and pushed on it. Not sure if it was the best thing to do or not, but we're letting it set overnight with the pressure and lots of kroil in the sleeve. I know, I probably should just scrap the pistons, sleeves rods, drive them all out and start fresh. Just don't know how available connecting rods are. On a good note....the crank looks good and the rod bearings read .002. Any advice is welcome. :?
 
Let it soak for a while. Perhaps a month or two. If you can press out the sleeves with the pistons - do so.

Soak some more. Then heat, good and hot, the piston and sleeve together. Let cool then try to seperate the piston from the sleeve.

Good luck. I had one stuck engine that I worked on for 6 months and never did get the pistons out of.
 
Harold, have you checked on the price of complete kit, versus pistons and tings? You may be spending a lot of time for a little gain. Once sleeve are out, you can, if need be, break them apart to get to piston pins and remove the rods. They are pretty thick however. In my area the local machine shop has the best price on overhaul parts, including rods.
 
I am thinking along the same line as John stated. Don't ruin the connecting rods trying to save the sleeves or pistons. If the pistons won't break free from the sleeves, smash them off to get the rods out.

The sleeves were straight bored clear through. The only impediment to pushing the pistons out should be the wear ridge at the top of the sleeve.
 
The local volunteer fire company (yes there still at least 3 in New Your City) found their first truck in a junk yard. It took them almost 2 years to free the stuck engine, just patience and lots of careful force. They pushed both ways from time to time. I think they used steel slugs machined to fit in the bore and the center recessed so all the force was on the outer rim so as not to collapse the piston. From the rod end they used a some what similar slug with a U cut into it to fit around the rod. They eventuall got motion and success. The truck is used in parades.
 
I helped push out pistons on a Super av, it sat in the press for a month. every day sprayed PB blaster on the cylinders. Each day put another few pounds of pressure on the piston. Pushed them out the bottom. took awhile, but got them outit took about a week per cylinder. slow steady pressure won the race
 
another thing the old timers used to do was fill the top of the cylinder above the piston with steel wool and light it. the heat would expand the rings, and sleeve, making it easier for the penetrating oil to soak in.
 
You could take a 4" grinder with a cut-off wheel and split the sleeve. The rods are the only thing I would save if they are good. That is what I have to do on my F-12.

Brian
 
I had major sucess today. Got all four pistons and rods out. Three still in the sleeve, one decided to give in and come out normally. I believe I will take the suggestion and use the angle grinder to split the sleeves. The one piston that came out looked fairly well, but not sure I can salvage the others. I'm just going to get the kit as others suggested. On a good note, the crank turned by hand once the last piston was out. Rod bearings were .002 over, so I'm hoping .010 will clean everthing up. May have some pictures later tomorrow. Thanks for the pointers......I'm sure I'll need some more.
 
First try heating the sleeves and pistons, something along the line of John's suggestion. A charcoal fire in the BBQ grill. If it doesn't work, you are not out much.
 
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