My 12 y/o son managed to find an Atomic 4 for $1.00 on Craigslist. Funny thing is that it was bolted to a FREE Ericson 32-2! Wow! I had to support the kid on that one - so here we are! The trailer/crane/steel to get the whole load home has already cost me (dad) almost $3,000.00! ; ) gulp!
We pulled the motor which we'll be working on through the winter - we'll post some pics asap. He has it stripped down to the block and casings already. Unfortunately, the past owner may have fried the lower end - we had had it soaking in an oil bath for a month and it won't budge with the hand crank. This is an older 60's block with few (if any) mods.
The short story is that the previous owner purchased the hull etc. from a salvage co. (four years ago) after it had slipped its mooring in a storm. The hull took "a few tides" through it via a handful of holes. Ha!
We read Moyers Bible (every page) and saw that there is no seal on the front end of the crank. We are now convinced that there was an unhealthy amount of water in the pan... which was sucked up and cycled through the engine until as the owner says "it just quit". When we drained the oil it was emulsified grey and so thick that the firs third of it had to be helped out with a wire. Everything we can see through the inspection plates looks fairly good ie. tranny, valves, piston tops etc.
Soo... our first forum questions.
1) can the valves be pulled if we can't rotate the crank shaft?
2) he already has the head off - to do a very nice rebuild should we still pull the head bolts out to inspect/replace? I hate the thought of causing more damage than what we are looking at.
3) what sign should we look for that the cylinders are not too corroded on the outside.. where we can see the rust around them in the inspection plate. We couldn't believe the amount of crud in every corner everywhere inside and out. I think maintenance was never, ever done on this ole iron horse.
I too have never gotten in this deep on a rebuild but between the two of us we insist that we can't make it any worse!
We are having a great time and would love any help, advise or encouragement!
We pulled the motor which we'll be working on through the winter - we'll post some pics asap. He has it stripped down to the block and casings already. Unfortunately, the past owner may have fried the lower end - we had had it soaking in an oil bath for a month and it won't budge with the hand crank. This is an older 60's block with few (if any) mods.
The short story is that the previous owner purchased the hull etc. from a salvage co. (four years ago) after it had slipped its mooring in a storm. The hull took "a few tides" through it via a handful of holes. Ha!
We read Moyers Bible (every page) and saw that there is no seal on the front end of the crank. We are now convinced that there was an unhealthy amount of water in the pan... which was sucked up and cycled through the engine until as the owner says "it just quit". When we drained the oil it was emulsified grey and so thick that the firs third of it had to be helped out with a wire. Everything we can see through the inspection plates looks fairly good ie. tranny, valves, piston tops etc.
Soo... our first forum questions.
1) can the valves be pulled if we can't rotate the crank shaft?
2) he already has the head off - to do a very nice rebuild should we still pull the head bolts out to inspect/replace? I hate the thought of causing more damage than what we are looking at.
3) what sign should we look for that the cylinders are not too corroded on the outside.. where we can see the rust around them in the inspection plate. We couldn't believe the amount of crud in every corner everywhere inside and out. I think maintenance was never, ever done on this ole iron horse.
I too have never gotten in this deep on a rebuild but between the two of us we insist that we can't make it any worse!
We are having a great time and would love any help, advise or encouragement!
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