Stuck Pistons

[Guest]

I'm trying to persuade old pistons from their cylinders, residing in a long neglected OHV-6 block. I assume the rings have become one with the walls. Overnight Kroil treatments make no difference and whacking them with a stick and 4 lb hammer only splits the stick.



Fill 'em up with Coke or a similar soda pop?

Also, should I shoot a glaze of WD-40 on main cap bolt threads on the final tightening for my V8?
Thanks!

Western Washington, USA

[Mike Van Veghten]

No....a light (but complete) coat of 30w or 40w engine oil works well. Put some on the underside of the fastener head also.

Mike

[PackardV8]

What I did was buy some peeled round fence posts close to the same diameter as the cylinder. I cut them in thirds to get sections about two feet long. Then I borrowed a fence post driver which was a very heavy section of pipe with a closed end and two handles on the sides. Put the fence post in the cylinder. Put the fence post driver on the top of the post, lift it and let it drop on top of the post. Maybe lucky, but all mine came out in one piece. The bad news is they weren't useable by my standards - too corroded. Maybe your luck will be better.

thnx, jack vines

PackardV8

[53k]

quote:Originally posted by tomnoller

I'm trying to persuade old pistons from their cylinders, residing in a long neglected OHV-6 block. I assume the rings have become one with the walls. Overnight Kroil treatments make no difference and whacking them with a stick and 4 lb hammer only splits the stick.
Fill 'em up with Coke or a similar soda pop? ...

I have never tried Coke (or Pepsi) myself, but many swear by it. I did try rubbing a rusty bumper with Coke on wadded up aluminum foil and it did clean the bumper.
Be sure to use diet Coke (or any other soda that has phosphoric acid in it)- avoid the sugar mess.


Paul Johnson, Wild and Wonderful West Virginia
'53 Commander Starliner (since 1966)
'64 Daytona Wagonaire (original owner)
'64 Daytona Convertible (2006)
Museum R-4 engine
1962 Gravely Model L (Studebaker-Packard serial plate)
1972 Gravely Model 430 (Studebaker name plate, Studebaker Onan engine)

[Flashback]

Be sure to soak from top instead of bottom. Pour in a mixture 50-50
of acetone and auto trans fluid. let soak for at least 2 days. Bump
down first. Then hone cylinder a little, and bump out the top.

Tex E. Grier

[Jeff_H]

Whenever I derust something with phosphoric acid, I use milking machine cleaner. The farm/vet supply section of the local fleet-farm has it by the gallon. Full strength it can clean a rusty bolt in a couple hours. Dunk one in and it immediately starts to bubble. The acid dissolves the rust faster than the steel but it DOES attack it too. I forgot some thin washers hangin' on a wire in a jar of it overnight and by the next day they were gone. The stuff I use has some detergent in it as well as the acid so it really cleans up both grease and rust. Rubber gloves are a given or you will have chapped hands from [}]

A little extreme perhaps but somewhere I read about a guy wanting to get stuck pistons out and what he did is attach some weights to the rods and built a oven around the block to heat the whole works up until the cylinders expanded enough for the weights to pull the plugs out. I think he left the top open to help from the top with a BFH and wood blocks too

Jeff in ND

'53 Champion Hardtop

[rockne10]

quote:Overnight Kroil treatments make no difference

If they've been stuck for a while a 24-hour soak is impatient.
When I got my Rockne I soaked it for a month before I tried any drastic moves.

Brad Johnson
Pine Grove Mills, Pa.
'33 Rockne 10, '51 Commander Starlight, '53 Commander Starlight

[bams50]

quote:Originally posted by rockne10


If they've been stuck for a while a 24-hour soak is impatient.
When I got my Rockne I soaked it for a month before I tried any drastic moves.

Right on. Chances are you can get them loose- IF you give it some time! Whatever you use, you can't expect it to work in a day... or, depending on the situation, a week or a month

If time dictates you have to get them out NOW, get some PB Blaster or Sea-Foam, soak 'em down good from both sides, wait overnight, and start pounding. You'll likely ruin them getting them out; only hope of not doing so is lots of time[|)]

Robert (Bob) Andrews Owner- Studebakeracres- on the IoMT (Island of Misfit Toys!)
Parish, central NY 13131

"Some people live for the rules, I live for exceptions"- 311

"Do they all not, by mere virtue of having survived as relics of a bygone era, amass a level of respect perhaps not accorded to them when they were new?"

[buddymander]

It's easy to crack a cylinder using the bfh method. The last one I did I used a 220 Lincoln arc welder cranked up all the way and burned out the pistons with an eighth inch rod.

[Guest]

Thanks all! I'll try the soakage method first, and let it sit a long while before reapplying hammer & bigger stick.

Western Washington, USA