Back In the Saddle (Newbe)

JMinPDX

JMinPDX

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Hi,

I owned a 2 coupes when I lived in the Bay Area in the 90's. I parted out a 74 in the early 90's. Some of you might have bought parts from me. I was in Belmont CA. I moved back to NJ in 1999 brought my 72 CS with me but sold it in 2001.

Well last week I found a 74 CSA that has been asleep since 1999 with 52,000 original miles. The father of the guy I bought it from owned a body shop and reapired damage from a rear end collision and then bought the car in 1978. The father passed in 1999 and the car sat in his garage since. The engine is currently stuck. I shot some MMO into the cylinders in hopes that I can free them up. I'll give it a few weeks to soak.

The car is bone stock and remarkably rust free for an east coast car. Paint is still presentable. The interior is very nice, the dash is perfect. The picture below is the coupe in my garage. (if I can figure out how to add pictures) [Broken External Image]:[URL]http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/2421/dscf1713bz6.th.jpg[/URL]

I'll be pulling the gas tank this weekend to have it cleaned. (I hate the smell of stale gas.) But I'll be taking my time getting it on the road.

Advise is always welcome. Happy to be back in the saddle and looking forward to posting my progress.

John M
82 e21 Baur
73 Bav
74 3.0CSA[/url]
 
Welcome back to the COUPE world John! Your 74 CS looks to be in real good condition with it's still gleaming front anodized aluminum front bumper. Also love the horizontal stitching pattern on the leather seats on the 74 and later coupes. Blue interior???

Keep us posted on your progress of getting the CS back on the road.

Bert
72 3.5 CSi
88 M6
 
As I wrote in one of my previous posts, here's what I did to "unseize" the engine.

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 except for some rust. 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.
 
Andre,

Thanks for the advise.

Is it really a 36mm socket for the crank pulley bolt?

Did you car run ok after you got it to turn? Any oil burning issues?

Here's my idea on getting penitrating oil into the cylinders.
Our M30 engines are slant sixes. So the pistons are at an angle. I want to be sure that I shoot enough oil into the cylinder to cover the whole piston not just half. So I will be adding Marvel Mystery Oil every few days for a couple of weeks.

I'll keep you posted.

John M
 
In my case it was 36mm. It could different for yours although I doubt it. I would not try to start the car until you know it's not frozen. You will need to take the radiator out and possibly the fan. I used "Power Blaster". I took the plugs out and inserted a clear tube (from Home Depot)into the sockets were the spark plugs were so that I could see the Power Blaster trickling down into the plug holes as I held the tube up (about a foot long). I did it for three or four consecutive nights. In the morning I would try to turn the engine using the 36mm socket with a long (about 24 ") heavy duty torque wrench for leverage that I bought at Pep- Boys for about $$30. I used some force but not excessive for fear in breaking something internal. I tried to turn one way for a minute and then the other way. In other words, tried to push up and then push down in a back and forth motion. I took the distributor cap off to see if the rotor would move. I was starting to loose hope when finally it moved on the 4th day. Again, I then turned one way and the other until I could get full revolutions both ways by hand. I then had a couple of beers. Yes the engine did start but I could let it run only for a few seconds because I had not yet reinstalled the radiator and so there was no water in the engine. Also, the guy I bought the car from had taken 3 freeze plugs out of the engine for whatever reason and let the car sit for about 7 years. I just finished installing new freeze plugs and put the engine back together. I will try to start it in the next few days but may need to adjust carbs. Hopefully there will be no other surprises. Hopefully this helps. Good luck
 
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