[VB] Help! Locked Up Engine that Ran 2 Weeks Ago - Puzzler

[Avocado Tom Tarka]

Following up...

I looked at in a little more detail and it's binding between TDC and ~12
ATDC, which would seem to point to something binding as the piston is
coming back into the cylinder.  And the cylinder seems to be on there
pretty well (no wiggle when I attempt to move it by hand).

---
  "We are MoTown.  We are professionals.  We're here to get the job done."


On Sat, Jul 24, 2021 at 2:58 AM Avocado Tom Tarka <avocadotom at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Greetings Volks!
>
> I just found myself in a bit of a bind, where my engine which ran when I
> pulled it two weeks ago will no longer turn over.
>
> I'll run through the whole saga for completeness but the basics are that I
> pulled the engine to replace the transmission and ended up pulling the 3/4
> head as well because the #4 spark plug broke off in the head.  I just
> torqued the 1/2 head (I usually torque the heads when the engine's out if I
> can), and when I went to set the valves: no go.  The engine doesn't turn
> over by hand (with or without the rocker arm on).  The 3/4 head is still
> off, as my plan was to put it on tomorrow.  Help?
>
>     - Tom
> (full disclosure: I'm cross-posting this to thesamba because I'm a little
> freaked about needing to get this engine back up and running)
>
> Full Story is as Follows:
>
> Background:
> Bus is 1967 with stock transmission.  Engine is 1600 SP I rebuilt ~35,000
> miles ago.
>
> My plan was to pull and replace the transmission on my 1967 bus.  I
> figured I'd do a compression check before I pulled the engine, just to see
> if I should be tackling anything else while the engine was out.  I recalled
> that the compression on #4 might be low, but my notebook is currently MIA.
>
> Compression was good on cylinders 1-3 (115, 112.5, 115).  When removing
> spark plug #4 to check the compression: it broke off.  Doh!
>
> [u]The Saga[/u]
> 1. Pull engine.  Pull 3/4 head.  Remove broken spark plug base with
> extractor.  Take head to the machine shop to check threads and valve guides.
>
> 2. Clean outside of engine and check endplay.  It's at 0.009" (no surprise
> there, I knew it was off).
>
> 3. Attempt to remove gland nut: no go without the engine being in a more
> stable place (instead of on blocks).  Decide to wait until the engine is
> back to a longblock, then deal with it.
>
> 4. Clean off built up carbon from the top of the #3 piston.  Can't recall
> if I did the #4 piston or not.  Currently, the #3 piston is close to TDC
> with #4 all of the way in. (This seems like it could be important or could
> be a red herring...unclear, but I thought I'd call it out.)
>
> 5. Pull the rocker arm from the 1/2 head and torque the head nuts, first
> to ~7 foot-pounds using the initial sequence, then to 22.5 ft-lbs using the
> second sequence.  None of the upper nuts move in either tightening
> sequence.  The lower nuts, particularly the middle two, do tighten during
> the second sequence.
>
> 6. Reinstall push rods and rocker arm after cleaning. Remove flywheel
> lock.  Attempt to turn the engine over by hand from the pulley: engine
> doesn't move more than 1/2 inch.
>
> 7. Remove rocker arm and push rods (in case I screwed something up) and
> attempt to turn over engine.  Still no dice.
>
> I'm at a loss.  If I had adjusted the end play, I could see the engine
> being locked up (I've had that happen before).  I can't imagine that
> torquing the heads would have any impact though.
>
> My best guess is that the base of the #4 jug moved a little forward or
> that somehow one of the rings on the #4 piston got caught on the edge of
> the jug somehow.  It seems really unlikely that that might be the case, but
> I just can't think of anything else?
>
> Any ideas?  Engine has oil in it, and like I said: it ran fine when I
> pulled it, has decent compression (for a 7:1 ratio), etc.
>
> Thanks!
>   Tom
> ---
>   "We are MoTown.  We are professionals.  We're here to get the job done."
>