I tried for several days to get the engine in my "new" 54 truck unstuck. I finally decided to pull the head & see inside. The cylinder bores & piston tops look good . The piston tops look practically new . The piston tops are stamped "STD" . That probably indicates replacement pistons , right ? Factory pistons were not stamped , were they ? The reason the engine was stuck was not a piston/cylinder problem but appears to be a lifter/bore problem . Mice had gotten inside the valve cover as the oil cap was missing . They had carried cotton , from the seat ,no doubt & built a nest about the middle of the head . The mouse pee & droppings had gone down around the pushrods & got to the lifters.They all seem to be stuck . I plan to spray each one & try to free them . Any suggestions and/or words of encouragement will be appreciated . Thanks .
RE: Penetrant Skip the Gibbs etc. and go to Kano Labs in Tn. and buy some " KROIL " it is , hands down , the best penetrant Ive ever used . Yes , you have replacement pistons , if it looks good consider buttoning it all up to see how it runs once you've gotten it loose . Vacuum out all the dust and mouse house before adding penetrant... Look closely at the feet of the lifters , if pitted you'll need to look closely at the cam lobes , grovves or pitting there means new cam time.... Add a magnetic oil drain plug or put a cow magnet inside the rocker box _NOW_ . -Nate
RE: Penetrant I found that my oil pan was full of water . It appears the water had just recently gotten in . Possibly just before I bought the truck . We had several days of heavy rain . The previous owner had the truck covered , but outside & the hood center strip was off the hood . Im guessing rain went thru the seam in the center of the hood & got into the engine . Although the weights on the crankshaft & the strainer part of the oil pump had started to rust , the two rod journals & bearings I have checked look good . Maybe I am in time to save the engine .
RE: Cleaning Bearing Journals Prolly so , just clean clean clean and then oil everything to prevent future rust . If you find anything on a bearing journal you don't like the looks of . simply find some " Crocus Cloth " and use that to polish the journal , flip a strip of it over the journal then grasp the ends and pull it back & forth untill the journal is clean and shiny , rotate the bearing 90* (1/4 turn) and do it again , repeat untill you've polished the journal four times , getting a different 90* each time with a bit of overlap and _DO_NOT_ polish bearing journals with anything else ! . you'll kill them . very important . -Nate
