stupid engine question: please dont enable, educate

I know tuna is willing to go grab me a junkyard vortec motor for 200 bucks or so. but theres a guy here in town, with a supposedly low milage vortec motor for 300. it was stripped to a longblock 2-3 years ago, put in a plastic bag, and sat in the back of the non climate controlled shop. we pulled it out today. plugs were in good shape, intake valley, top of heads clean as a whistle. even the pushrods and tops pf the roller lifters still clean. intake ports and backs of valves clean. exhaust ports have some soot buildup. I grabbed ahold of the harmonic balancer and could not turn it over. put an 18: breaker bar on the crank bolt, and could not turn it. we put a prybar in the teeth of the flexplate and it turned about 1/4-1/2 turn before getting tight again. engine has not been turned over or oiled since putting in the bag.

guy selling it is a buddy of the bodyman that caused me to need a motor, so theres that....

so I guess this is a learn me slightly stuck engines thread?

would I need to do a hone, ring, and bearing job just to be safe, or is it something that could realistically be oiled a fair bit, put in the truck, and run for 50k?

im not an engine guy. furthest ove ever been in one is head gaskets and that was enough to make me nervous.

thanks Michael

Any way to verify mileage? Warranty? I would pull the heads and oil pan for inspection since it is accessible. If it is truly low mileage it will be easier to tell with the heads off, also easier to free up.

just talked to him. hes willing to let me pull the heads and oil pan.

also, hes mandating the brand new comp cam be sold with it, which brings total price to 500. unsure of what cam it is, just "biggest that you can use with a stock converter" comp. hes to send me the info. my concern about camming it is the TBI setup I want to put on top, and my goal of daily driver.

so in a couple of weeks, when I back on my feet, I can look closer.

please, continue with the education guys...

You could have him put some MMO in the cylinders to possibly help out a bit. Helped me with a Honda V4 that sat for ~12 years outside and uncovered.

I get nervous when people start changing the deal. Walk away. You are in the good old boy network, which is a terrible place to be if you are not one of them. This is my opinion.

screw him, walk away.

So the motor won't turn, it's been sitting for 2-3 years and he's requiring you pay an extra $200 for a mystery cam the just HAS to go with it?

Why are you still thinking about this deal again?

Walk away.

patgizz wrote: screw him, (walk) RUN away.

Yeah, concur about the whole 'you gotta take the cam too' thing. Time to walk away.

Now, as far as unsticking a stuck motor: pull the plugs, squirt some penetrating oil in (and WD40 is NOT penetrating oil!), use a LOT, probably a whole spray bomb split evenly between the cylinders then stick the plugs back in finger tight.

Remove the valve covers, check the valves for movement. Toyman and I had to unstick two valves in a 351W that were rusted open. Don't skip this step, or you will bend a valve! If a valve is stuck, use penetrating oil on the stem then whack it with a hammer and a punch to break it free.

Then drain the engine oil if it hasn't been already. I think that motor has a dizzy? if so pull it and make one of those primer deals out of a screwdriver to spin the oil pump. Put a couple quarts of cheap oil in the motor with it sitting horizontal, pull the oil pressure switch.

Spin the oil pump with the screwdriver tool and a drill till you see oil come out of the pressure switch hole. Now pull the plugs back out and try to turn the motor with the breaker bar, typically you will work it back and forth, getting a little more travel each time till you finally get a full turn. After it turns a full turn, keep turning it over till it gets easier and easier.

At this point, all you know is the engine turns over. You don't know squat about whether it will actually run.

I'm w/ the 'walk away' crowd.

Yup walk away. Cam shouldn't have to come, good old boy networks are crap, and vortec's are a dime a dozen. Nothing special about the engine that should make it several hundred more than any of the other ones out there.

I'll take a $200 motor that turns over a $300 motor that doesn't....

Back at the engine rebuilding shop I worked at we would only accept engines whose crankshaft would turn 720* as cores. Too many things that could change "good candidate for rebuild" into "totally and utterly fuddle-duddled".

Good old boys love suckers... Don't be a sucker !

I'd offer $100 and tell him to keep the cam. You could probably free it up and it would be fine, but it's not worth more than a known running engine.

Dusterbd13 wrote: guy selling it is a buddy of the bodyman that caused me to need a motor, so theres that....

I'm in the "those eggs are not in ~your~ basket" camp. Move on.

Run away from that. I have let motors sit for years un covered inside and non climet contred and they don't freez up. That thing is a POS. DONT BE A SUCKER

There are deals out there better than my local pull a part but this isn't one of them. Keep looking. You may find one. I am more than happy to assist if you don't find one.

cool. thanks for all the feedback, guys. and tuna, unless Aflac comes through with some pocket full of money, your pull-a-part is the best deal going.

Ask him if you can take a look at the mystery cam, smack him with it, and then steal his girlfriend.

+ELEVENTY MILLION on walking away from that deal. Not like vortec 350's are hard to find. Had a buddy bring me a 455 olds that was supposedly running when pulled. Couldn't turn it over with a prybar so I pulled the heads, 4 cylinders were rusted solid. He thought their story was legit because the paint on the engine looked ok, they just slapped some paint on a boneyard block and charged him $1200 bucks for it. Told him to take it to the machine shop to see if they could salvage it, they told him he bought a boat anchor, a $1200 boat anchor. I think this guy and your bodyman are setting you up for a fall..

Woody wrote: Ask him if you can take a look at the mystery cam, smack him with it and then steal his girlfriend.

that is my new signature. thank you.

and guys, thanks for the feedback. you've confirmed what I was thinking.

Michael

Woody wrote: Ask him if you can take a look at the mystery cam, smack him with it and then steal his girlfriend.

That's GOTTA make Say What?

NGTD wrote:

Woody wrote: Ask him if you can take a look at the mystery cam, smack him with it and then steal his girlfriend.

That's GOTTA make Say What?

agreed. I wonder if whoever is in charge of that column is following this thread?

NGTD wrote:

Woody wrote: Ask him if you can take a look at the mystery cam, smack him with it and then steal his girlfriend.

That's GOTTA make Say What?

You just cemented it not getting there.