V8 60 't'

Grumpy Rick

Senior Member
Hello,

I spend my time in the 'Y' block forum, with my '55 T-Bird and '56 Vickie, but I also have a '22 'T' touring with a V8 60 motor, trans, and rear. I suspect the original guy bought a '39 for parts and used everything he could. It is a survivor, built probably with junkyard parts, and has not been changed since about 1955.

It had one refresh in '72 but stayed the same. I bought it in about '89, sold it in '97 or so, incurring the wrath of the house goddess, and bought it back to appease her about 2010. I personally am done with it and it has been driven little since then, and not at all since 2014. I personally cannot drive it anymore because I cannot get my feet on the pedals safely, the seat is so close.

Finally, here is the deal...

If you are still with me, I now have several grandkids age 16 through 30 who all want to drive it, so I decided to try to get it running, knowing the water pumps would be frozen up. One GS and I spent the day trying to get them unstuck, with no luck.

With the fan belt loose, we bumped the car in third gear by hand enough to see that the engine was turning a bit, tried liquid wrench in the water pumps and turning by hand and with aid of a rubber belt wrench, with no results. I loosened the pumps just a bit to see if they would be difficult to remove. They loosened OK, but I wanted to get the car running before taking them off.

We retightened the fan belt very tight and tried bumping the car again. No movement at all in the pumps or motor. Then I tried hooking up a battery to the car to bump the motor with the starter, and all I get is a solonoid clicking. This was with the battery in my F250 diesel (running) hooked up.

Finale: Could the water pumps be so frozen that the motor won't turn over under that much help? Oh, yeah..car ran fine when parked.

Any help appreciated. Sorry for the looong post, I tend to over explain.

Rick
 
Take the belt off and start it , it wont hurt it running for a few minutes without the belt and full of water.

Me, i would put a strap wrench on the waterpump pulley and try and break them loose

If the solenoid just clicks the starter might be stuck or not getting any power.
 
Doubt if the fan belt could prevent the motor from turning over. Try squirting MMM in all the spark plug holes, bump it back & forth & more MMM each day for a week. You should see increasing movement every day. Don't try starting it unless you get it to move freely. The pumps are another story.
 
This has to be a world record.

Two good helpful answers, within 9 minutes, and that is counting the time it took to read my post.

Skid, I did use a strap wrench, but didn't think of the starter being possibly stuck. I will check it out.

Alan, sage advice about making sure the engine is free before starting. MMM? Are you referring to Marvel Mystery Oil? I am going to slow down and follow your procedure for ensuring it is not the motor that is stuck also.

Thank you
 
Check close for stuck valves also. I've had several V8-60 engines that had sat for long time periods and each had stuck valves.
 
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