Re: smashing out stuck pistons
[Re: AndyF]
#2290483
04/19/17 10:49 AM
04/19/17 10:49 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,760 North Dakota
6PakBee
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Knock them out from below using a long rod or pipe. Just get the pipe pushing against the bottom of the piston crown and then pop it hard with a 5 lb sledge and the piston top will break off. Only takes a couple of seconds once you get the hang of it. If you have cast pistons, this way works well. When I was a kid and made money selling scrap cast, every junk dealer would dock you half the weight because of the aluminum pistons. Removed literally dozens of pistons this way and I can't remember the block being damaged on any of them. Never encountered forged pistons but I would bet you couldn't use this method on them.
"We live in a time when intelligent people are being silenced so that stupid people won't be offended".
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Re: smashing out stuck pistons
[Re: mro]
#2290515
04/19/17 12:15 PM
04/19/17 12:15 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 75,095 A Banana Republic near you.
JohnRR
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383 RR 69 - I could swear I took the 392 pistons out through the bottom - it was years ago - I could be wrong I'll go with wrong ... Be careful smashing out those pistons , I tossed a 68 440 HP2 block because a friend smashed out the pistons , and smashed a huge hole in one cylinder wall. Get dry molasses and a big tub and soak it in it for a few weeks ...
running up my post count some more .
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Re: smashing out stuck pistons
[Re: mro]
#2290517
04/19/17 12:21 PM
04/19/17 12:21 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 75,095 A Banana Republic near you.
JohnRR
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Its been soaking in kroil for 7 years....no joke - really. Its the original engine to one of my cars that I am not using - but i'd like to send it out for a rebuild. 7 years of soaking - thats seriously stuck Kroil is useless for something like that . I had a 400 that was stuck , but the crank wasn't stuck , i put it on an angle and sprayed PB blaster on the tops of all the pistons after hitting the walls with a wire brush on a drill to remove the scale. did one side then the other , long pipe on a breaker bar and a brass hammer hitting the tops of all the pistons I could reach and I got the thing to spin over. rust was only above the pistons though. It was a 230 block but still needed 5 sleeves due to pitting and core shift.
running up my post count some more .
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Re: smashing out stuck pistons
[Re: 440_Offroader]
#2290519
04/19/17 12:24 PM
04/19/17 12:24 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 75,095 A Banana Republic near you.
JohnRR
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Throw the block in a hot tank... All the aluminum will mysteriously disappear! Haha!! Next to impossible, if not impossible, to find those type hot tanks anymore thanks to the EPA... Plus I don't think the owner of said tank wants his solution trashed ...
running up my post count some more .
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Re: smashing out stuck pistons
[Re: mro]
#2290537
04/19/17 01:20 PM
04/19/17 01:20 PM
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Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,110 Lynch Road
mro
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yella 71 - dude - I am so clueless. ya see - I thought this was a place where I could ask questions and get answers. You ever want to match car collections let me know...champ
68 Satellite Wagon and a few other ones
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Re: smashing out stuck pistons
[Re: mro]
#2290538
04/19/17 01:24 PM
04/19/17 01:24 PM
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Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,110 Lynch Road
mro
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John RR, I did cracked and sleeved 2 years ago smashing the hell out of it - exactly what i'm trying to avoid
68 Satellite Wagon and a few other ones
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Re: smashing out stuck pistons
[Re: mro]
#2290541
04/19/17 01:28 PM
04/19/17 01:28 PM
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 36,041 Lincoln Nebraska
RapidRobert
Circle Track
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Circle Track
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Lincoln Nebraska
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MRO you are doing great, post all you want/whatever you want. this is where we solve problems/dilemmas. EDIT the bore(s) may need drastic overboring and or sleeving but at least getting the pistons out WO damaging the bores is good procedure/mindset. (keeps Mr Murphy at bay). I would sharpen a bit & get after it.
Last edited by RapidRobert; 04/19/17 01:40 PM.
live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth
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Re: smashing out stuck pistons
[Re: mro]
#2290554
04/19/17 01:49 PM
04/19/17 01:49 PM
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Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,110 Lynch Road
mro
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OP
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Lynch Road
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Thanks - finally building/finishing my 69 RR after 13 years of metal work and body work. Went slow because of my job. Anyway - I did forget a lot of stuff on these cars from when I was younger - but not everything.
68 Satellite Wagon and a few other ones
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Re: smashing out stuck pistons
[Re: mro]
#2290595
04/19/17 03:26 PM
04/19/17 03:26 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 16,376
dogdays
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Here's how I got the pistons out of a Mercedes block that had had a head gasket leak and the ethylene glycol had literally glued the pistons in. Before starting, the crank has to come out. First I got a chunk of aluminum the same size as the bore, placed it on a piston top and gave it a couple of hearty whacks with a 2 1/2 lb hammer. The piston moved but was in no way going to come out. So, I got a piece of 5/8" rebar and turned the block upside down. Placing the rebar inside the piston skirt, I knocked the tops out of the pistons. IMHO someone who gets into the cylinder walls doing this is either unlucky or careless. Turn the block over and thread a length of small diameter wire rope around the wristpin, and out the top. Here's the tricky part, I used a hollow piston hydraulic jack and was able to run the wire rope through the center, clamp it on top. Then I jacked the pistons out.
The first oversize is 0.5mm or 20 over. I bored the block myself at a high school auto shop and then had it finish honed with a Sunnen power hone. After the cylinders were honed to fit the pistons, there were still some small grayish-black pits visible. I put the engine back together and it runs great.
At that time, 1979, a new bare block was $1300. So I had no desire to bore any larger than I had to. Never had another problem with that engine. BTW, that engine had a forged crank and every journal showed the signs of being induction hardened. It was way too complicated but that engine was beautiful inside.
R.
Last edited by dogdays; 04/19/17 03:28 PM.
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Re: smashing out stuck pistons
[Re: mro]
#2290607
04/19/17 03:57 PM
04/19/17 03:57 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 17,914 S.E. Michigan
ZIPPY
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"smashing pistons". Sounds like a band name from the '90s.
My strategy has always been to just beat the almighty living crap out of them any way I can and somehow they come out.
Rich H.
Esse Quam Videri
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Re: smashing out stuck pistons
[Re: mro]
#2290668
04/19/17 07:16 PM
04/19/17 07:16 PM
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Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,110 Lynch Road
mro
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Taking a short j bar to them with a sledge - I know they will need sleeves. I like the idea of drilling reliefs. ThANKS for all the input. m
68 Satellite Wagon and a few other ones
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Re: smashing out stuck pistons
[Re: AndyF]
#2290749
04/19/17 10:36 PM
04/19/17 10:36 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,655 western PA
mopar4ya
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western PA
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I had a very rusty engine last summer that I went through this with. It soaked for 3-4 months in and out of the molasses bath as parts SLOWLY came off. After everything was off the engine except the crank, rods, and pistons I tried everything to get the pistons out. A couple did come out with the hammer and a heavy rod, driving them out the top. In the end after several weeks of trying I ended up pulling them out. I drilled a 5/8 hole on each side of the wrist pin, opposite of each other on the end of the pin and dropped a 1/2 wire rope cable down around the pin. A cable clamp to tie the cable together, a block of wood, a large pipe and a 20 to short bottle jack pulled them out of the holes. I put pressure on 1 at a time with the jack, heated the cylinder the best I could through the soft plug holes and used lots of ATF/acetone mix. I would give the jack a couple of pumps each morning before I would leave for work, come home and put some heat on it and give the jack another pump or two, what ever it would take. Some holes took 2-3 days before they came out, but every day you could tell they were moving. I did not hurt the bores in the block.
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Re: smashing out stuck pistons
[Re: mopar4ya]
#2291051
04/20/17 03:21 PM
04/20/17 03:21 PM
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,886 Lost and Spaced
bboogieart
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Lost and Spaced
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Interesting thread. I have a 68 TNT 440 with stuck pistons. I thought it was junk. I recently read an article on this and saw a couple pictures of holes drilled into pistons. Not much mention of ring ridge removal. Is it not an issue at this point? Lots of good advice and alternatives here. Gives a fella hope. Thanks guys.
I have mechanical Aptitude. I can screw up anything.
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Re: smashing out stuck pistons
[Re: bboogieart]
#2291130
04/20/17 06:09 PM
04/20/17 06:09 PM
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 36,041 Lincoln Nebraska
RapidRobert
Circle Track
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Circle Track
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Lincoln Nebraska
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Not much mention of ring ridge removal. Is it not an issue at this point? I would for sure would use it first IF I took em out as is.
live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth
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Re: smashing out stuck pistons
[Re: RapidRobert]
#2291156
04/20/17 07:01 PM
04/20/17 07:01 PM
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Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,110 Lynch Road
mro
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Lynch Road
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The hammering isn't going so well. I may not have the hang of it - though...but none seem to move - the backstory - this engine came with one of my RR and it is numbers matching....the reality after thinking about it is it might have been a junk engine anyway. My thought was to have it rebuilt - and put it back in. I mean - the original owner must have pulled it for a reason. Anyway - I beat it last night - NOTHING MOVED...outside of my shoulder. And the engine in the car will probably stay there. I figured the rebuild to stock would be 3500 - start adding removal and sleeves - it will escalate quickly - and for what ? Just thinking - I don't know. Not sure.
68 Satellite Wagon and a few other ones
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Re: smashing out stuck pistons
[Re: mro]
#2291167
04/20/17 07:19 PM
04/20/17 07:19 PM
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Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,110 Lynch Road
mro
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I thought the same thing - none moved.
68 Satellite Wagon and a few other ones
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