Poor life choices - C4 content

Day-16(1.5-hours)

I started this evening out with a trip to Harbor Freight to replace my worn out breaker bar & pick up another prybar too. So I went from this:

To this:

With the car up on stands I was able to get completely underneath it, bend the trans cooler lines out of the way, and completely remove the flywheel cover. Then I put my new prybars to work.

Initially I could see a very slight bit of rotation from the flywheel, but it seemed to be something flexing, as it sprung right back to the same place. I'm not sure what would have been flexing though - surely not the crank?

Then I moved to the opposite side, and had a minute amount of motion! It was only about the distance of 1-tooth, but it definitely rotated slightly backwards. Unfortunately, after that I couldn't get it to budge either direction.

I also pulled the front driver's side caliper bracket, rotor, and hose. It's so nice working on a car that isn't rusted solid!

I hate to sound all negative, but I think I would focus on pulling the engine, and not trying to break it loose in the car.

Cool thread, will keep watching.

In reply to pres589:

I figure I have more leverage with it still in the car, but I plan to pull the heads after the holidays. Depending on what I find, and whether the bottom end frees up any more, will determine the course of action after that.

I agree that you might want to leave the engine in the car for a while. Even if it's only slightly frozen, it would be hard to break it loose on a stand. I might be tempted to pull the heads though.

Also, is that one of those aftermarket Saratoga tops that I used to see advertised in the back of Car and Driver all the time?

You know Pete, it feels like I never left your garage.

Is it possible to pull the oil pan? That may shed some light on why the engine won't turn.

In reply to Woody:

It's the stock translucent targa top, but cracked.

I'll likely pull the heads in the next week or two. Still deciding what path I want to follow, but I think any plan that keeps this engine will be the cheapest way to get it on the road.

In reply to Ian F:

I was looking at the pan briefly while I was under the car last night. I think I can access all the bolts, but not sure there's enough clearance to fully remove the pan. I need to find my drain pan first, or buy a replacement. I'm pretty sure I packed it & brought it down...

My thinking is that, if this thing is that locked up, there's going to be rust in places you don't want rust. The other thing is seals that won't anymore.

I guess my thinking is, if it was me, I could spend 10 to 20 hours trying to get the engine unstuck in the engine bay. Or I could spend that time pulling the engine now and focus some of that time on getting it apart on the stand. Ring/bearing/seal kits for that engine should be around $200. Could be a good path forward if you want to stick with the L98 and not do a swap.

In reply to pres589:

pres might have a point here. If the bearings are bone dry, turning the engine even by hand might score the journals and render the engine worthless. A basic re-ring kit from Summit is $82.

Good points from both of you, I'd not really considered collateral damage to the crank. I think I'll still pull the intake, heads, and pan(if it will come out) just to get a better idea of what I'm dealing with, plus I'd really like to be able to pull what remains of the engine without having to remove the hood - that looks like a 3-person job - so getting as much out of the way in the bay as I can is my plan...damn I'm starting to sound like a poet.

I doubt the bearings are dry, but if it's this stuck it probably should be reringed at minimum, if the bores are pitted it really should be bored.

In reply to BrokenYugo:

Here's my other thought/concern - I've started to question how long the car was parked. The seller said since spring of 2014, but also mentioned they were planning on plating it as an antique and putting limited-use insurance on it, "because it hadn't been used in a while". However, the last inspection sticker is from 2002, and from what I can tell Louisiana still requires them. So I don't think they could have renewed the plates after 2002 without an inspection.

petegossett wrote: In reply to BrokenYugo: Here's my other thought/concern - I've started to question how long the car was parked. The seller said since spring of 2014, but also mentioned they were planning on plating it as an antique and putting limited-use insurance on it, "because it hadn't been used in a while". However, the last inspection sticker is from 2002, and from what I can tell Louisiana still requires them. So I don't think they could have renewed the plates after 2002 without an inspection.

I have to agree. I've had engines sit longer than that and still turn over just fine. Heck, I've started engines that sat that long on the gas (actually, it was diesel) that was in the tank.

Hi Pete: 8 years in Louisiana, the inspection there consists of hitting the brake lights and honking the horn. If they let that car run out it was because no one took it down the street to any number of mom and pop sticker sellers. So, maybe the car was not running since 2002. The other thing to try down the spark plug holes is "KROIL" look it up, order of magnitude better than WD40, PB blaster, etc...

In reply to Agent98:

Ah, I guess I shouldn't be surprised the sticker is just a extortion tax.

Putting on my tinfoil hat, given the car's whereabouts near Slidell, and the fact it was last inspected in '02, I wonder if it was caught in any of the Katrina flooding? There's no sign of it being submerged now, so if so then it must have been cleaned very thoroughly, but maybe they never got around to fixing the mechanicals and/or driving it afterward? Yeah, that's a bit of a stretch, I know. But people don't park good running/driving cars for ~12 years.

I think just 14 years of Louisiana humidity without any storage prepwork would do it. The engine and trans pans would be full of water/milkshake if it was in a flood and not dealt with.

You shouldn't have more corrosion inside the motor than outside. Unless there are significant parts of the car trying to flake off (yes I know how a corvette is built, but there is still steel under a C4) then I doubt the inside of the motor is terrible. I'm still voting for some sort of mechanical lockup we haven't thought of yet rather than just stuck bores.

Taking the heads off in-car makes sense to me, even if you eventually have to pull the hood to get this all back together in the end. Whatever has this thing locked will probably require engine-apart time anyway.

Katrina, Ivan, Isaac many bad storms, but I think it is simple condensation along the cylinder walls. Doesn't take much. I got an engine block for free -fresh rebuild, 10 mins run time because the guy wrecked the CJ7 it was in and left in out in the elements. Intake valve on #2 was open and a small amount of water got in. Took days of Kroil and wood block /2 lb maul on the stuck piston, whenI got it loose, there was hardly a trace of surface rust in the bore. Doesn't take much.

Others have said if the rings are stuck bad then it will smoke like a freight train anyway, so that points to yanking the engine. Do you know if the timing chain is intact, or is it broken or jumped so the chain is holding the sprocket? I'd take off the starter and timing cover rather than pull the heads. Good luck looking forward to what you find out

Have you taken the valve covers off to at least see if there's any damage to the rockers, valve springs, or pushrods?

In reply to Stampie:

Not yet. I've started going through the brakes, so I want to at least get those parts ordered before I tear anything else apart.

Don't you know that you're supposed to have it in so many pieces you can't remember what's what? You're being way to organized about this.

Day-17(2.5-hours):

I bought a can of Rustoleum's version of Plastidip, and sprayed the targa top. I had some globs, I'm presuming because it was in the low-50's, but most of the smoothed out. Although I discovered a couple gaps the superglue didn't fill, so I'll seal those up before giving it another coat or two.

Next, I pulled off the left-rear brakes, then decided to punch out the pistons on both it & the left-front caliper. I'll be ordering new ones, as these feel a bit too damaged to hone out.

Lastly I pulled off the brakes from the passenger side...well, mostly. The lower caliper bracket bolt on the rear brakes also holds the bracket for the parking brake cable - and there's no room to fit a box-end wrench & still turn it, an open wrench won't fit in the opening, and if I put a socket on it there's zero room for any extension or swivel.

But while I was there fighting the bolt, I noticed this. It's the lower bushing(or "was") for the swaybar end link. I bet that made some noise.

I wouldn't worry about the noise on the bores of the calipers. They don't do anything except hold fluid. The pistons otoh, need to be clean and smooth as they slide along the seals in the calipers.

But if the calipers are cheap, new ones would also be clean :)