An heir and a spare- two donor cars?

[Tundra]

In one of my first postings under topic of "Frame Rails" I explained that I have a 74 Ocs in working condition but had a severe Frame Rails rust problem. I received valuable suggestions and advice on how to address this problem. In my search of trying to find a suitable car to get Frame Rails I stumbled across an elderly gentlemen (about 70) who had a 72 automatic 3.Ocs that he wanted to get rid of. He bought about 8 years ago with the intent of restoring it but never got around to it and was now tired of it. It sat in a shed in his backyard for all this time. I took it off his hands. I couldn't believe my luck. I felt that I found the perfect donor car. He had taken a lot of the stuff off the car and put all the parts in 3-4 boxes in the trunk and back seats. The car is about 95% complete.I got it home the next day. I spent the next couple of days examining the car and inventory all the parts to to see what's missing so that I would know what I could use for my 74. After studying this car I came to the conclusion that this car is in too good of a condition to start cutting up and that it is restorable. The seats-front and back-have to be totally redone. The door panels and dash are in reasonable good condition.
Now I'm asking myself which of the two will be the donor car. The problem I have with the 72 is that the engine is seized. I don't know if it's because it just sat there for 8 years or some other issues. I can turn the crank by hand only about a quarter turn of the distributor then it seizes. I took out the park plugs and injected lubricating oil/rust buster and let it sit for a day. Still seized. I'm considering taking the head off but then I'll come across the problem of removing the chain if the link is at the bottom. Does anyone have any suggestions. Swapping engine is one solution but I'm trying to keep it as original as possible. I'm trying to save this car and resurrect it. Any suggestions would be welcome Thanks

 

[Stan]

Personally, I would keep the 72 and drop in the engine from the 74. I like the pre-big bumper models more.

 

[Malc]

Save the one with the best body!
Swap bits as required!
You can take the head off without loosing the chain or it jumping the sprockets. That said it probably is easier just to swap engines, that will not detract from the "originality" that much and at least you know where it came from and of course it's condition.

Now you can built one really good car out of two and have lots of hard to come by spares!
Good luck and let us all know how you get on
Malc

 

[Philip Slate]

As for the engine in the '72 turning and then seizing, it sounds like possibly something internal is hitting something else. Start by pulling the valve cover to see if any valves are sticking. If the cam slipped a couple of teeth a valve may be hitting a piston. A long shot would be an obstruction around the fly wheel. Maybe even pull the distributor to check that it rotates freely. We just hope it's not a thrown rod or anything along those lines. In any case, it sounds like you'll be getting greasy.

 

[Bill Riblett]

If you can turn the crank a quarter turn, the engine is not seized. Start with the easy stuff. As someone else mentioned, take the valve cover off and look for anything that is jamming. If this looks ok, take off the belts on the front of the engine and make sure it isn't the A/C compressor, alternator, water pump, etc.

If it still doesn't turn further and you are going to take the cylinder head off, unbolt the chain sprocket from the cam. Wire the chain to the sprocket to hold them in position. Unless the original chain has been replaced, there will not be a removable link.

My guess is that this is not an internal engine problem.

As for your frame rail, is it just rusted at the rear? If so, this area is frequently patched on 2002s, which have the same basic design. The back end of the frame rail is not a very complicated shape and it is not difficult to make a patch piece, or you could buy a new frame rail and just use what you need. Often the back end of the frame rail on the driver side rusts because of a leaky clutch master cylinder dripping corrosive brake fluid which collects in the back end of the frame rail.

 

[Tundra]

Great news. I was finally able to turn the engine fully by hand. Here's what I did. For about 3 evenings, I took out the spark plugs and sprayed lubricating oil (it's called BLASTER, it's like wd-40). I then let the car sit overnight and tried to turn the crank by hand-(actually a 36mm socket with a long lever). Still nothing. finally, last night I took a one foot long 1/4 tube, inserted in the spark plug holes, one by one as deep as I could and then prayed Blaster into the tube. put the spark plugs back in. This morning I tried once again and it finally turned. I can now turn it fully. It seems that nothing was blocking it. In the next few days I'll put the starter, carburators etc back in and see if it starts. I'll do it without water. The radiator and all the hoses are out. I'll put them back in after the car starts for about 15-30 seconds.Plese let me know if you think there is anything else I need to do before starting the engine. I want to thank Bill, Phillip and Malc for your comments and advice. It helped. I'll keep you informed.