'52 Studebaker motor

[dimples]

I've never worked on an old car before and i'm having a problem getting the motor to break loose. Is there any "easy" way of doing this besides taking the whole thing appart?
I have a '52 Studebaker commander (V8). If i'm not using the right termonalogy...go easy on me! I've never worked on a car before AND i'm female. Right there is my biggest excuse! (ha,ha)
And no i'm not do'n this all on my own, i've got my b/f and my dad helping.
but anyway...any ideas?

[Alan]

You haven't given us much information as to how long has it been sitting, has any rain or water gotten into it, how many estimated miles on it, ect.

[dimples]

The car has been sitting for around 25- 30 years outside in a cow pasture/field. With that in mind it surprizingly isn't in bad shape. When i began to take out the motor (after discovering it was seezed up) there was water/moisture on the pistons. I still have to take the heads in and see if they're craked or not. If they are that explains the water, if not... then i'm not sure. This car WAS running for about two days six years ago. The reason for letting it sit was because the brake lines have to be replaced and something was wrong with something else, i'm not sure what it was. If i could get the pistons to move that would solve a lot of the problems with the motor. Is there anything else that you need to know? i'll do my best to give more information. just let me know what else i need to mention.

[dimples]

oh! miles... i'm not sure how many is on it. I looked at it a month ago but forgot. all i know is that the milage is low
72 thousand --- give or take this is only a guess.

[whacker]

dimples, the first thing you need to do is pull out all the spark plugs and fill the cylinders with penetrating oil. Many people recommend Kroil, but there are other brands also. Leave the engine alone for 3-4 days to let the oil sink in a little. Pull out the distributor. Get a big 1 1/2" socket and put it on the bolt attached to the front of the crankshaft. Put the transmission in neutral, and use a big breaker bar on the socket. If the engine can be pulled around a full revolution, put the distributor back in, drain out the oil and refill it with new oil. Then you can put in new spark plugs and try to start it. If you cannot get it to break loose, let it soak in penetrating oil again and try again in a few days. I've heard of people soaking it for as long as a year, but I think if you don't get results in a week or so, you may as well plan on pulling the engine and rebuilding it. If you do get it started, let it warm up and then shut it off and change the oil again right away.

[dimples]

Thanks, i'll try that! i was useing WD40 but that's not working. I'll try the oil and hope for the best!

[Roscomacaw]

How did you determine there's water in the cylinders and HOW MUCH water/moisture are you talking about. I seriously doubt that the heads are cracked but it is a remote possibility.
Did this thing set in the pasture during freezing weather? Did it have anti-freeze or water or whatever in the cooling system? If it's in an area (you didn't say where it's at) where there's wintertime freezing and the engine had water in it's cooling system, it might well have cracked but it would be more likely to do so on the block than the heads.
Moisture can find it's way into some cylinders just by the engine sitting for years thru many nights and days of condensation due to normal temperature fluxuations. There's always a few cylinders that have valves in the open position and ambient air can find it's way in and out.[}]
You might get lucky and break it loose but with the car sitting out like that, it's not likely it'll run well if you manage to get it to do so.
Whacker tells you how to apply a big socket to the front. I might add that the big bolt he's talking about using the socket on has a funny-looking washer under it that should have one edge of it (the washer) bent up against the bolt head. To get the socket to fit well on the bolt head, you need to take a chisel or a flat blade screwdriver along with a hammer and beat that washer edge away from the bolt head.[:0] The purpose of that bent washer is to keep the bolt from loosening itself as the engine runs. Anyway, it has to be out of the way for the socket to fit right.
Also, pulling on the handle of that socket - pull so that the engine will turn clockwise as you view it from the front. You can try pulling it counterclockwise but you may find that that big bolt simply starts to unscrew without moving the stuck engine.[:I]
As whacker advises, if it's really, really stuck, you might be better off in the long run to take it apart and make things right. You MAY or may not get away with some serious cleaning of it's internal parts and not much more than a gasket set. OR it could prove to be fairly costly if cylinders are deeply pitted with rust and rings are stuck, etc., etc., etc..
Is this car a stick shift car or an automatic? Is it like some sort of family relic or just an old car you've taken a shine to? That might be a determining factor in how much moola you wanna pour into to it.

Miscreant at large.

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President 2-dr
1955 President State
1951 Champion Biz cpe
1963 Daytona project FS

[dimples]

Mr. Biggs,
my car is an automatic.
the way i determined that there was water in the cylinders was that when we looked at it, it was a clear liquid, therefore assuming that it's water. The car has been sitting out in the pasture during freezing weather, rain, a tornado, really hot days, freezing nights, etc. for around 30 years. like i mentioned earlier, this car was running for a bit about 6 years ago. At that time my brother and dad were woking on it. They have told me "stories" that they would get the car running, let it go for a few yrs, get it running, and so on. This is the first time (according to them) that it's taking longer than a week to get it running. As far as the cooling system goes- i'm not sure if there is any water or anti-freeze in it.
story of the car: My dad bought the car in '70 something from a guy trying to resore it. My dad and brother got it running and did a few "restoring" things to it. Then around a month and a half ago i bought it from dad for 10 cents! (He thinks i'll get tired of working on it. What he doesn't realize is that I hate the new cars because they all look the same (no distinguished body lines) AND i want to be able to enter my old car in the Iola car show. Ya know, somthing to be proud of. How many 20 year old's can stand next to an old car with pride and be able to say that they restored it and made her "shine with beauty" again?) So yes this is one of the 6 family relic cars. As far as a budget goes: any amount to make this car a beauty!
but overall i have a very strong gut feeling that i'll have to take the entire motor apart.

[N8N]

Just my personal opinion, which is worth exactly what you paid for it By all means try to get the engine unstuck. However, if that doesn't work, you can probably find someone with a good used 259 or 289 laying around that will cost you less and be quicker to swap than rebuilding your existing engine, and will bolt right in with minimal mods (mostly changing the timing cover and oil filler tube so you can keep your old fuel pump.) That said, if you WANT to rebuild the engine yourself, don't let me discourage you - it's awful satisfying to hear it fire up and know that you did it yourself. I would check to make sure that the block and/or heads aren't cracked before going too far however. Have you tried to drain the radiator to see what's inside, if anything?

good luck,

nate

--
55 Commander Starlight
62 Daytona hardtop

http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

[dimples]

Nate,
The working crew (me, my dad, and my boyfriend) have acutally been throwing around the idea of putting in a differant kind of motor. But that's only if we can't get it working. the biggest task is to get the pistons unstuck. it's like a ghost or something glued them right in! (ha, ha...yeah anyway..) My main goal for resoring the car is to keep everything original. But yeah, if the motor is going to nickel and dime me to death before i even begin, then we'll have to put in a diffeant one.
Radiator had nothing in it as far as i'm aware of it. But i'm not 100% sure on that, only 99.9% sure. dad wouldn't let anyone touch that because "you'll never find another one as good as this one". (He's wierd that way)
Thank you for your input, anything is a lot of help for me!

[kmul221]

Not to rain on your parade but before I go to all the engine work on a car thats been sitting in a field for years I would check the condition of the frame,its possible it is weakened beyond repair & all your work will have been for naught.I admire your enthusiasm & hope you suceed with your project

[55s]

I agree with Kevin about frames - see previous post.

Here's what I've heard on breaking an engine loose.
Penetrating oil good.
Breaker bar.

If you take off the heads, you can bang the top of the piston with a wooden stick. (It won't really move because pistons are attached to the crankshaft.) Alternately remove crankshaft and try. Taking off the heads will also allow you to clean up the rust on the cylinder walls.

Danger Boy Approach: (I have heard this does work!)
Put Quick Start (ether) in one cylinder through the plug hole, replace plug, and "fire" it. ("fire" means put regular ignition voltage to the plug.). Do all 8 cylinders. Then try the breaker bar again.

Good Luck.

[Dwain G.]

We're all a little curious what body style your car is. Could you tell us everything it says on that metal tag on the engine firewall, right side?

Dwain G.

[gordr]

FWIW,

I just got an e-mail forwarded to me that offers a rebuilt engine, transmission, hood and trunk lid for a '52 Commander; cheap, it says. In the Seattle area. Reading between the lines, it sure sounds like another one of those Chevy-powered '48 hardtops is a-borning[]

I don't know where you are located, Dimples, but if you can get that stuff cheap or maybe even free (message hinted he might haul to dump), it'd be worth your while to get it, even if you have pay a couple hundred bucks shipping. And we do have a kind of Studebaker "underground railroad" that kicks in from time that hauls basically for fuel cost, as circumstances permit. I've been both a beneficiary and perpetrator

You can use the private message feature of this board to send me an e-mail, or simply use richmondHATtelusplanet.net to e-mail me direct, and I'll forward you the e-mail I got from Tom. The HAT's where it's @, by the way.

Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands

[tonymaddux]

I also have been working on freeing up a 1952 Commander V-8, and would like to give some advice. First, I am surprised that no one else has mentioned that you don't want to put too much force on that big bolt on the end of the crank. Don't strip those threads! I removed the water pump for clearance, fastened a piece of angle iron to the front of the crank using the small bolts that hold on the pulley, and hammered on it with a three pounder until it loosened up. not the best way to do it, either, but better than stripping those crank bolt threads. I eventually loosened it up enough that the starter would crank the engine a couple of times around, but I ended up tearing it down because it wouldn't loosen up any farther. I found that the rings were stuck to the pistons in 5 of the cylinders, not by rust but by good old carbon build-up, I guess. Hopefully you will find nothing worse than this in your engine.