Abandoned Corvette Problems

Abandoned '72 Stingray user again. I jacked the car up, changed the oil, oil filter, removed the rear wheels and brake calipers, removed the sparkplugs and individually oiled the cylinders. Removing the sparkplugs and oiling the cylinders was somewhat annoying because of their location, and some of the plugs were stuck but I got them all out. I am now unable to turn the engine over by hand. I used a torque wrench on the crankshaft bolt set to 80 ftlbs, but the flywheel wont turn. The bolt itself tightened somewhat, so I backed it off. I really don't want to strip the crankshaft bolt with a breaker bar and am unsure what I should do now. Would removing all the belts help, or should I just go buy a flywheel tool. Maybe I am retarded and am missing something obvious, but if the engine is seized, it may be beyond my skill the fix it.

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youtube.com/watch?v=NnP5iDKwuwk
ateupwithmotor.com/terms-technology-definitions/gross-versus-net-horsepower/
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Almost no DOT fluid in the brake lines, and looked like some rust in the reservoir as well. I hope the engine can turn over, if it doesn't that is a can of worms I would really not rather open. So very many things could be wrong and I don't want to try and rebuild a 350 SBC that was sitting for three decades.

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You left the spark plugs out right?

This might sound stupid but did you leave the car in neutral? Easy thing to overlook.

Yes, they're all out.
The gear selector is in neutral, however the rear wheels are locked up and I am not sure why. It could be the parking brake pads and locked up inside the disc, but to remove the discs you have to drill out a rivet, which I don't want to do. Also it seems to me that the gear selector moves around too freely.

Does the tranny have fluid in it? Taste it.

This was my first guess as well.

You could try pulling off the tranny, see if turns then. Honestly, engines rarely seize up by themselves. If it is it's usually major engine failure that made it seize.

You could try tapping around the engine seals lightly with a hammer, that might free any shaft from a rust bond.

Also, take off any auxiliary belts. A stuck dynamo or pulley will give you hell when you're trying to hand turn a engine.

>remove the belts
OK, that isn't too hard to do.
>pull off the transmission
Seems pretty fucking difficult. It is an automatic, is there a way to decouple the engine from the transmission without completely dropping the tranny? It says that it is in neutral, but I think that it lies.
Some fluid, but not much

If the engine takes so much effort to turn over that you strip the crank bolt, the engine is probably seized. Take the belts off and try again. I honestly don't know why you'd even bother fucking with this boat anchor of an engine when you can get an LS for so damn cheap.

>DOT Fluid
Well, at least you're trying something, even if you don't know much about it.

Take off the oil cap and see what the top end looks like.
If it looks good, I'd give the starter a go to see if it'll turn over.
Seeing your photos that thing is a rust bucket, but I've gone up to cars that have sat in fields for 15 years that didn't need any encouragement to turn over.
If the plugs were in and engine bay wasn't open to the elements, the engine should probably be good enough to turn over, I don't imagine it's been parked its entire life, probably sometime in the 90's

Kinda depends on the car really. Don't know shit about Corvette's. Have you checked out any Corvette fan forum? There's bound to be online Stingray fans willing to help you trouble shoot it.

First things first though, and that's to make it roll. If it was left in park for 30 years you can bet your ass the parking brakes have rusted up. Undo any linkage and take a big fucking hammer to it.

Having it rolling will make it a lot easier to trouble shoot the rest. For instance by forcing it into drive and rocking the car back and forth. That will allow you to put a lot more torque on any seized up engine bits.

>strip the crank bolt
Wait, does the fact that the bolt turned without moving the rest mean that I stripped the bolt? I used a torque wrench set the 80 ft lbs and didn't even reach that, also I only moved it maybe 10 degrees.

I will lever the belts off with a screwdriver I guess, but I'm not sure how to get the transmission into neutral/decouple it from the engine without dropping it completely.

Marvel mystery oil in each cylinder, let it sit overnight.

dude just cut the belts they toast anyway
and dirt cheap to replace

not necessarily, it likely just got a little tighter. You're probably not going to strip it with what you appear to be using so stop worrying about that, don't leave the bolt loose if you've backed it off, if it does end up running a loose crank damper will wobble around and dicker the crank. Just take off the belts for now and stop worrying about the transmission for now, start with the easy stuff first.

Alright, I am going to head back to the garage, cut off the belts and try to turn it over again.
That is what I did.

Just hit the crank for a second, if it doesn't turn over stop.
A crank puts out a ton of force, more than your breaker bar will, and it's in an instant, so it's an impact force.
If there's any corrosion holding it up, a tap of the starter has a better chance at breaking it than you are running around the engine worrying.
If there is really enough corosion to stop it, the engine needs a total tear down because you need to clean all of that off, and remachine/replace surfaces with vital tolerances, like all of the bearings.

Are there dents or holes in the oilpan that look like they were made from within?
When you drained the old oil, did it have metal fragments in it?
Is there oil mixed in your coolant, and/or coolant in your oil?
These could indicate damage from a thrown rod.

I hope your motor is good though. It's a cool car. This sound like a cool project. Good luck with it!

>pull off the transmission
>too hard!
What are you trying to accomplish here? If fixing up the car isn't the goal, then what is?

The worst part about removing the transmission would be getting the input shaft out.
Like Rob Ferritis Evo transmission.

RWD, shit tons of clearance, pull out, drop down.

AWD, no wiggle room, curse for 2 hours trying to get it out, get it out, curse for another 2 hours, it's back it.

Maybe you could get away with just disconnecting the driveshaft?

Wondering the same thing. OP picked what looks like a rust bucket that needs to have EVERYTHING replaced, but doesn't even want to pull the motor or trans.

Good luck.

>le LS for everything
Fuck off.

what's the problem?

>wasn't here for first thread
he got it for free in a house auction
it was hidden under a pile of garbage
iirc he wants to fix it and do some hektik skidz if possible
but isn't too attached and wants to sell it
>also something something angry tweakers

if it's already in neutral this won't help

really whats wrong with a nice ls? sure they have ugly valve covers but thats the only negative i see

Your gonna waste time and money with that old engine park it and save up for a ls7

>LS powered autism
OP is probably going to sell it when he realizes the trans grenaded, it's all a moot point

stay on target
youtube.com/watch?v=NnP5iDKwuwk
>inb4 we're too close

what do you have against a ls? its genuinely a good engine. tell me seriously.
you get a lighter, stronger, better breathing engine. it doesn't have optispark like a lt1 so thats even better

>get a collector's car
>I got an idea, let's remove it's collector's value!

>I cannot read or comprehend
>all I can do is LS swap
ok my dude

72 was smog era
not a collectors engine

Yep wasn't here for the first thread. Makes a little more sense, but looking at the overall picture he's going to have to dump decent time & money into this thing just to make the damn thing run and drive.

Not worth it IMO, but good luck OP. Might learn a thing or two about wrenching along the way.

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Not in 72.

>base model shitbox auto Corvette
>collectors car

lol

Ive been saying swap since the first thread and I still say its the smart option if op wants to enjoy the car

that was meant for
but whatever

bruh its still a 8.5 compression engine that made 200hp on a good day 40 years ago

How much did that old SBC 350 make anyway? 200Hp? 300Hp?

and you would be clever, but its his money. my guess/prediction is he will drive it a bit with the stock engine for a while and get bored with it and upgrade it later.

Dude a junkyard small block is cheap as fuck. Hell, a NEW small block crate engine is cheap as fuck. Stop worrying.

200 hp
280 lb-ft


he already said he wanted to turn it into a fast deathtrap

so why waste time and money on the stocker with how cheap you can get something better

The 4cyl ecoboost makes more than that. Swap in one of those and trigger the fuck out of everyone.

fuck you

would be cool but op already has some Ecoboost power

everything. There's literally nothing about the ls that's good other than cheap hp. but that's all you get is cheap hp. It's an overglorified truck engine designed to haul pigfat amerishit cars around their streets

no thats more like the stock engine. its more trucklike than even a ls

You're an idiot. In 1971 the government stopped letting manufactures make wild claims of what horsepower their cars made. Horsepower was standardized.

Forgot muh link
ateupwithmotor.com/terms-technology-definitions/gross-versus-net-horsepower/

nice irrelevant info I guess

still a 200hp low compression anchor

to put in perspective the same engine in 1970 had 10.25 (iirc) compression and made about 230 hp net and rated 300 gross

the same low compression engine was rated 270 gross in 1971

The engine was exactly the same.

Oh, I want to do this so bad, I know there's legions of you out there that would sperg out spastically if it ever happened.

yeah in 1971 and 1972

both are boat anchors

It's going in a corvette for fuck sake, they're easy to work on, have a huge aftermarket, can make stupid power and are pretty damn cheap, get the fuck outta here.

Good news everyone! I cut off the belts, oiled some more things, fucked around with the gear selector some more, set the torque on my wrench higher and used jerking motions instead of pressure and the engine turned over! I smoothly took it thorough a few revolutions with no problems.
This also makes me think that the transmission really is in neutral and that the culprit for frozen rear end is the parking brake. I decoupled the e-brake linkage and tried moving it to no avail. To remove the discs and get at the parking brake shoes requires me to drill out a rivet in the discs, which I would like to avoid if possible. So I will get a deadblow hammer and wail on it a bit later.
I am glad to see LS swap memes in full force while I was away, but after seeking the advice of an old friend of my fathers who said these cars in automatic were not fun to drive even when new, I have decided to get it running with the least amount of fuss I can manage and sell it. If it were manual, I would strongly consider swapping in a modern engine and making it a fun car but putting the money from the sale into my new house, FoST or perhaps even a shifter cart would be smarter. The house, while neglected by crackheads, has a lot of potential.

You could still change it over to manual and put a ls7 in it.

You can LS swap your house and live off the grid, I get all my power from a LS7 generator and I've never looked back.

i dont understand the reasoning, if youre going to swap engines, why not swap the trans also?

I'm very happy to hear that! If it were me at this point I'd soak the brakes with some PB Blaster, start it up, put it in gear and see what happens (with one hand on the shifter and the other on the ignition). Don't let it run for more than a couple minutes without a belt on the water pump though.

Honestly user I wouldn't sell it, keep it as a fun project to learn on. Try getting the stock motor running or swap in a junkyard motor and manual transmission.

i like LS engines but GTFO

I'm not going to change it over to manual, LS swap the car or LS swap my house.
I am going to buy some PB blaster, new belts, maybe a new brake diaphragm gasket if they have it and some radiator fluid. Connect the new battery, put in the new plugs and see what happens. I am somewhat worried about the fuel system, the gas tank was totally dry, and only somewhat rusty, the fuel sock is intact as well. I may replace the fuel filter in the fuel line.

Eh, probably better for the tank to be dry than to have a pint of cruddy fuel in it. Was the gas cap on tight? Remember you can just pour gas directly into the bowls on the carb through the vents. It probably would be a smart thing to do the first time you start it up period even if it just ends up being to sort of prime the pump. Fuel might run backward down the lines even but don't quote me on that.