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By 55 GLASS TOP - 11 Years Ago
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Hello I have a 1955 Ford 272 takes a lot of effort to turn the engine , I have soaked the pistons with oil with no change . The car has been sitting for almost 30 yrs I have pulled the heads today and the cylinder bore is clean yet the engine is still tight . The car has an automatic transmission I was wondering if the torque converter or some internal transmission part could be so rusty that its making the crankshaft hard to turn. I plan to disconnect the converter from the engine to see if it makes a diffrence. I would like some Ideas Byy the was today when in removed the heads I did drop the pan and removed the bearing cap from each piston the pistons all moved freely yet the engine is still hard to turn thanks again
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By Lou - 11 Years Ago
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Are you turning the engine my hand or with the starter?
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By 55 GLASS TOP - 11 Years Ago
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Almost can't turn by hand, i need to use a long handle ratchet and socket . I need to use 12 volts to spin the motor .
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By pegleg - 11 Years Ago
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You might want to look at the crank and make sure the bearings are ok. Sounds like somrthing's siezed or trying to/ Probably why it was parked. Check the rear seal and the mains also.
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By 55 GLASS TOP - 11 Years Ago
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When I removed the bearing caps to move the pistons there was some slight scuffing on the bearings but nothing seemed like it was so stuck as to make the engine drag the way it is . Today I am going to see if I can take the tranny out of the equation . I think something in the tranny is the problem . When I find out the problem I plan to take the engine apart again just to make sure no damge was done .
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By pegleg - 11 Years Ago
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Another thought comes to mind, Pull the belts off the motor and make sure it's not the water pump or generator. Starter too.
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By Hoosier Hurricane - 11 Years Ago
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"Take the engine apart again"? Have you already had it apart? Now you need to checked for mixed up bearing caps and caps on backwards. Those would make it hard to turn if it didn't lock it up entirely.
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By aussiebill - 11 Years Ago
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55 GLASS TOP (6/2/2013)
When I removed the bearing caps to move the pistons there was some slight scuffing on the bearings but nothing seemed like it was so stuck as to make the engine drag the way it is . Today I am going to see if I can take the tranny out of the equation . I think something in the tranny is the problem . When I find out the problem I plan to take the engine apart again just to make sure no damge was done .
2 things cross my mind, if sitting for so long untouched? and top end removed, and rod caps loosened and still tight, how about loosening main caps incase gunk has settled through crank oil holes into bearing groove or cam followers are tight. Obviously soaking pistons has been done? All just a guess relating to rotating parts and we all love a stab in the dark with these problems.
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By aussiebill - 11 Years Ago
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Hoosier Hurricane (6/2/2013)
"Take the engine apart again"? Have you already had it apart? Now you need to checked for mixed up bearing caps and caps on backwards. Those would make it hard to turn if it didn't lock it up entirely.
John, good to see you,r on the mend and excercising your mind with these brain teasers.
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By 55 GLASS TOP - 11 Years Ago
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some more on this car the engine was rebuilt over 20 yra ago and never started it had oil nothing on the inside is rusty every thing i touch seems to move freely . when turning the engine with a ratchet you can hear a low growl like dry bearing sound . the tranny has NEVER had oil in it so I was wondering if the torque converter could have rusted since its air cooled and maybe the dampness rusted the unit . The tranny drain pan is badly rusted can i unbolt the converter a push it back to spin the engine .
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By oldcarmark - 11 Years Ago
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If you unbolt the convertor from the flex plate you should be able to turn the motor without touching anything else to do with the transmission.Is the starter drive retracted to the disengaged position and not stuck in the engaged postion on the ring gear of the convertor?
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By dbird - 11 Years Ago
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I recently had my engine open and checked bearings. While I had the pan off, somebody apparently reinstalled a rod cap the wrong direction. The engine became impossible to turn for these old arms with that one error. Since I was the only one working on the car, it was probably trolls messing with me. If you can still turn the engine, unbolt the convertor, which is fairly easy through the starter hole and lower cover, or just loosen all the caps and retorque the one at a time. Hope this helps.
Don
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By Pete 55Tbird - 11 Years Ago
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Back in the day a ring and valve job was common and cheap. The rings may not have been sized to the bore so check the cylinder walls for vertical scuff marks. The fact that it was "rebuilt" and never started is not a good kind of thing. At this point you should assume the worst. Pete
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By Hoosier Hurricane - 11 Years Ago
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If the engine was assembled by someone else, all the more reason to check it. I once checked a 312 for a customer that he had bought from a respected circle track engine builder in the southeast. The builder was obviously a Cxxx guy, because the rods were installed in the Cxxx order, which made the rod bearings ride the radius on the crank. The timing chain was installed per Cxxx practice, and the cold adjustment of the valves caused the exhausts to have 1/4" clearance. The cylinder head bolts were installed in the wrong holes, so the gaskets were doomed to fail.
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By 56_Fairlane - 11 Years Ago
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Not to sound like a Cxxx guy, what in the heck is a Cxxx?
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By MoonShadow - 11 Years Ago
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scrub, gm, chevxxxx, etc. We don't like to use the Cxxxx word here! We hear enough about them in ALL the car mag and TV shows. Chuck 
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By 312T85Bird - 11 Years Ago
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Have you run an electric drill in reverse to power the oil pump and lube the internals?
312T85Bird
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By 55 GLASS TOP - 11 Years Ago
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yes i have oil at the rockers
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By 56_Fairlane - 11 Years Ago
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MoonShadow (6/5/2013)
scrub, gm, chevxxxx, etc. We don't like to use the Cxxxx word here! We hear enough about them in ALL the car mag and TV shows. Chuck
OK, now I get it. It's the same as any four letter word that usually gets censored like this **** on some sites.
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By Rmc292 - 11 Years Ago
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I'm having an issue like this too, Have you removed all of the sparkplugs and tried to turn over? Here is what I’m seeing. 1. The engine turn overfreely without the sparkplugs. 2. When I put onesparkplug in, the engine will bog down and pause. For example, With all of thesparkplugs removed. Then put a sparkplug in #1 cylinder while on TDC then crankthe engine, it will bog at #1 cylinder. It will do this on all cylinders. 3. with all of the sparkplugs init will barely turn over.
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By oldcarmark - 11 Years Ago
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Have you tested your battery?Is this a recent occurrence that just started happening or?
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By Jeff - 11 Years Ago
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Another thought, based on a friend's rebuilt flat head that had setting for a number of years. Wouldn't turn over. Removed the rod bearings and main bearing caps and still nothing. It turned out the rope seal had bonded to crank surface. Cleaned up the crank surface and replaced the rope seal and everything was good.
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By Rmc292 - 11 Years Ago
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This started happening after I rebuild it, It ran before that. Is it possible that the starter doesn't have enough torque to turn it over?
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By pegleg - 11 Years Ago
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Anythings possible, but it might be better to check the bottom end BEFORE you wipe out the crank and bearings.
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By oldcarmark - 11 Years Ago
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Have you had it running since you rebuilt it?
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By chiggerfarmer - 11 Years Ago
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Quote "when turning the engine with a ratchet you can hear a low growl like dry bearing sound"______________________________________________________________________________________________________
I think it might be possible that there is a problem with the starter and maybe the drive gear is stuck and causing the starter to turn with the engine? That would explain the strange sound you are describing. It is not much trouble to remove the starter and eliminate it as the problem.
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By Rmc292 - 11 Years Ago
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That is what I was thinking. So I pulled the starter and looked it inside and out then took it in to be tested and rebuilt.
I will keep you posted
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By chiggerfarmer - 11 Years Ago
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Sorry I didn't finish explaining, but if my theory happened to be correct then you would be able to turn the engine by hand much easier with the starter removed.
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