Well I tried to be productive....

[Roscomacaw]

A dozen years ago, I was asked by a fellow chapter member: what could be done about breaking the 289 in his '56 President loose. This guy was a wisp of a fella and had been trying to break the engine loose with the one and a half inch socket on a breaker bar stuck into a 3 foot cheater bar (big-azz piece o pipe). It had had MMO, tranny fluid and penetrating oil poured into it's bores for a few weeks in advance. Nothing he could do would make it budge, so he asked if I'd try my hand at it - my prodigious bulk being percieved as an ass-set. <G>

That big bolt actually held it's ground no matter which way I tried to force it. The car had been setting in a barn for more than 20 years prior. I was pushing and pulling for all I was worth - maybe 15 minutes or so. Finally - at one point during a clockwise exertion, I felt a little pop. With extreme effort, it yielded to pressure as I reversed the force. With each back and forth, it would go just a tiny bit farther. After repeated pushin' and pullin' - and that thing really resisted at first - I was able to get the engine thru a full revolution. All the plugs were out of course, and I remember getting doused with oil at one point when I got good enough movement to expell some of the accumulated oils in the cylinders.

A few days later, he put the starter back on (he'd been trying to turn the engine by prying on the ring gear!), cleaned the points and then and spun it. Dang thing fired right up. What was amazing was that it didn't smoke a BIT after it burnt off all the penetrants that had been used in the cylinders! Matter of fact, he was driving it around just a few minutes after it started - the original automatic shifting as if had been driven all along.

[ddub]

Get a new lock, cheaper.

[rockinhawk]

I have done the ring gear thing a few times and been successful but you have to be careful not to damage the teeth.

[Warren Webb]

$399 for keys is stupid! Cant be a repudable locksmith to charge that. I always use Old Towne Lock & Key in Torrance. Calif. Call him @ (310) 371-6629. Use my name, he or his wife will remember me & my Studes. I think the last time I had a cylinder rekeyed he charged $20.00 (cash only). Not many locksmiths have Stude key blanks anymore, so order some from your local vendor. Rich & Mike have them in stock I'm sure. Then send your ignition & one door cylinder to them & get fixed up. Or, get the new ignition switch assembly (wont have to worry about the switch going bad in a month or so then) & just have the door cylinder rekeyed. Old Towne's reviews on YELP had 18 replies. 16 gave 5 stars & 2 gave 4 stars.

[Cultural_infidel]

I am definitely going to order the new one from SNW once I get to that point. I thought that $399 was completely asinine. I will definitely keep Old Towne's name in my reference book for when I need the door locks re-keyed. I have also started researching more reputable locksmiths in the area instead of the morons I spoke to yesterday.

[1954khardtop]

$399.00 is nuts. I lost my pick up keys once while driving my tractor trailer. They were somewhere between Albany NY and Fall River Mass. I had to call an on call locksmith at 2:00 AM to meet me at the terminal. He had to cut me a key by hand, turning the blank in the lock, looking for contact marks, and making the notches with a file. He charged me less than $100.

[wolfie]

Ive always been able to turn the 6's by pressing down on the fan belt and turning the fan. Especially with the plugs out. Steve

[9echo]

$399.00 is just plain highway robbery. I needed a real ignition switch for my '48 Champion. I bought one from Barry and removed the door lock, took both to a locksmith here and got 4 keys made and the lock picked for $22.00. I was a very happy guy.
Shop around a bit.

[kmac530]

BTW, I did not see a clear answer on testing the starter so I will shout in here

You can take a set of jumper cables, ground the neg side of a good battery to the engine block with the black cable and then connect the red to the positive terminal and touch that to the OUT terminal of the starter solenoid which will send power straight to the starter and crank it over. It will not start because you have energized the ignition system just the hot to the starter itself.

To be safe you may want to connect the positive/red to the out side of the solenoid or right to the big terminal on the starter and then use the black as your side to tap the block to complete the circuit and crank it over.

[Cultural_infidel]

$399.00 is just plain highway robbery. I needed a real ignition switch for my '48 Champion. I bought one from Barry and removed the door lock, took both to a locksmith here and got 4 keys made and the lock picked for $22.00. I was a very happy guy.
Shop around a bit.

I did end up doing some research on this and found a local guy who would charge about $20 if I brought the locks to him. I think in the grand scheme of things, I am going to go with the new unit for the ignition. If I am going to pull it all out, I might as well put something fresh back in. As for the door locks, I will use the local locksmith.