I've been pecking away at my "new" 1950 2R-10 pick-up for the last couple months, trying to resolve a stuck engine, which has been ID'd as originally coming from a 1950 Champion.
As far as I know, then engine has been with the truck since the previous owner acquired it, around 1960.
Last state inspection was in 1987, supposedly "it was running 10 years ago".
It has always been kept in a dry barn (no livestock) when not in use, and when finally parked, had the carb & air cleaner in place, and complete exhaust system.
Fast-forward to Nov. 2012: I see the truck on Craig'slist and go to look at it. The truck looks decent, but the engine won't budge. I figured, "eh - it's just set-up from sitting. Some Marvel Mystery Oil will loosen it."
So, I buy the truck, and haul it home, and start flooding the cylinders with MMO... after about two months, I have MMO dripping on the floor underneath, but the engine is still stuck tight.
I finally get tired of waiting for MMO, and pull the head. There's the usual accumulation of carbon, but no mice nests or cylinders full of rusty water... in fact, four of the cylinders have no MMO standing in them, it has drained past the rings, the other two are full to the top of the deck.
I bail the full cylinders ( 3 & 4 ) out, and look inside, and there seems to be rust on the rear cylinder wall of # 3 and the front wall of # 4 . There is a lot of rust pitting in the relieved area between the valves and bore of # 3 (other cylinders are fine). I cannot see any obvious signs of head-gasket failure or seepage between 3 & 4...
Can barely turn the engine over using a pinch-bar on the ring gear.
Today, I dropped the pan: no water / coolant, no milky sludge. About 1/2" of soft black sludge in the sump.
Decide to pull the pistons. All the rod bearings are very dark gray, and the babbit feels rough; no scoring, journals are bright and shiny, but the bearings look like they've been exposed to coolant at some point.
All pistons came out easily expect # 4 , which took some fair pounding with a small sledge and a 1" dowel to drive up and out of bore... it's a mess. Looks more like it came out of a brake cylinder: piston crown is corroded, and the rings look like they've been stuck for decades...
The cylinder bores of # 3 and # 4 are pitted enough that they will require boring...
I'm new to Studebakers, so I have a nagging question if the Champion six was prone to block cracks, perhaps around the valve seats / pockets, that might have allowed coolant to seep into these two cylinders ?
As far as I know, then engine has been with the truck since the previous owner acquired it, around 1960.
Last state inspection was in 1987, supposedly "it was running 10 years ago".
It has always been kept in a dry barn (no livestock) when not in use, and when finally parked, had the carb & air cleaner in place, and complete exhaust system.
Fast-forward to Nov. 2012: I see the truck on Craig'slist and go to look at it. The truck looks decent, but the engine won't budge. I figured, "eh - it's just set-up from sitting. Some Marvel Mystery Oil will loosen it."
So, I buy the truck, and haul it home, and start flooding the cylinders with MMO... after about two months, I have MMO dripping on the floor underneath, but the engine is still stuck tight.
I finally get tired of waiting for MMO, and pull the head. There's the usual accumulation of carbon, but no mice nests or cylinders full of rusty water... in fact, four of the cylinders have no MMO standing in them, it has drained past the rings, the other two are full to the top of the deck.
I bail the full cylinders ( 3 & 4 ) out, and look inside, and there seems to be rust on the rear cylinder wall of # 3 and the front wall of # 4 . There is a lot of rust pitting in the relieved area between the valves and bore of # 3 (other cylinders are fine). I cannot see any obvious signs of head-gasket failure or seepage between 3 & 4...
Can barely turn the engine over using a pinch-bar on the ring gear.
Today, I dropped the pan: no water / coolant, no milky sludge. About 1/2" of soft black sludge in the sump.
Decide to pull the pistons. All the rod bearings are very dark gray, and the babbit feels rough; no scoring, journals are bright and shiny, but the bearings look like they've been exposed to coolant at some point.
All pistons came out easily expect # 4 , which took some fair pounding with a small sledge and a 1" dowel to drive up and out of bore... it's a mess. Looks more like it came out of a brake cylinder: piston crown is corroded, and the rings look like they've been stuck for decades...
The cylinder bores of # 3 and # 4 are pitted enough that they will require boring...
I'm new to Studebakers, so I have a nagging question if the Champion six was prone to block cracks, perhaps around the valve seats / pockets, that might have allowed coolant to seep into these two cylinders ?
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