Hey All,

In anticipation of my morning run to the local pick and pull, I was getting the slant ready for action tomorrow. I thought it would be a good idea to turn the engine over via the harmonic balancer b/c I knew she had been sitting for a while.

Well I ran a couple of bolts into the threaded holes in the front of the harm. balancer and used a pry bar to try and rotate the engine.



When I finally put my full 300 pounds into it, the thing made a sound like gears stripping and finally moved about 30-50 degrees. Then went back the direction it came without too much effort.

Hmmmm. So I pulled the plugs and shot generous portions of motor oil into the cylinders. And tried again. I've got the thing turning about 180 degrees now but I litterally bent the grade 8 bolts screwed into the balancer.

My buddy I bought the car from swears he cranked it over with the starter just last summer. I do believe him.

It ain't like the engine was sitting out in the rain with the spark pulgs out and the rocker cover off!

Any thoughts?


Thanks all,

Chris E.

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-76 Cordoba, 360 4bbl
-68 Valiant, 273 2bbl
-67 Dart /6 4bbl, Leaning Tower of Power!!!

Whoa... you really should of figured out what was happening before forcing it like that, you may of just made a bad problem worse. Cheap 2 cent grade 3 made in who knows where bolts would of been more then enough to do what you needed, let alone grade 8.

When I bought my car it had sat for years, probably like a decade, under the tree of the previous owner untouched. It didn't have a problem turning over.

Drain the oil and see if theres any white stuffs in it from water contamination. Maybe head cracked and let water into the cylinders? Check water level too while your at it....

To give you some perspective - I have fairly week upper body strength, heck I couldn't do a pullup in highschool PE class - but I can turn my engine over, with plugs in, with a typical wrench, maybe 16-18" long? Heck I remember using a 12" crescent w/o a problem. Arm strength was enough, didn't need to put any weight into it.

I second that. I turn mine easily with a 12" cresent without much effort. Grinding sound scares me. My engine sat for a few months many years ago and ended up completely seized, but I'm sure there were other factors involved such as poor maintenance by the previous owner.

Think I found it!

This morning I went out and popped of the dist cap, and moved the crank through the limited range of motion it has. No rotor movement.

Poped the dist out of the block. Sure enough, two wiped teeth on the gear. now the crank turns 360 w/o problems. The dist is totally locked.

I'm hoping the plastic dist gear saved the dist drive gear on the cam. Guess we'll find out:)

I'm off to the junkyard to get the other parts I need. '

C

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-76 Cordoba, 360 4bbl
-68 Valiant, 273 2bbl
-67 Dart /6 4bbl, Leaning Tower of Power!!!

I'm having a hard time believing a broken nylon gear bent grade 8 bolts on the damper, but none the less good luck!

I'm not if it's not the center bolt, but the 3 holes around the perimeter............ (only about a 1/2" head on the bolt)

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

I am totally with you on this! But when I took out the dist, things started turning ok.

I was using the 3 bolt holes around the outside. and the bolts were pretty long too. about 2.5 or 3 inches which may have made them easier to bend sideways.

Anyhow, I am hoping that is what it was. I'll know soon. I have the engine turning over with the battery and starter now. Just installing the junkyard dist I got this morning.

_________________
-76 Cordoba, 360 4bbl
-68 Valiant, 273 2bbl
-67 Dart /6 4bbl, Leaning Tower of Power!!!