'40 Lasalle project finally home. Ugh!

[Poncholover]

  So after 18 months, this Bad boy came home from storage. I had previously poked a prodded a little & knew there was an issue with the engine but we weren't really able to dig in where it was stored.
First stop was the car wash where I took a pressure washer to it as it had to look presentable on the trailer!

Then on to a light tidying and inventorying...

It is really tough to get a socket on the crank snout and I really hoped that hosing down the cylinders last year would free up what ever had prevented the engine from turning a whole 365. Likely a stuck valve or lifter? Well, unfortunately it still would not turn a full rotation. No Happy Garden!

I considered pulling the heads but know what head gaskets cost! It seemed like a better plan to pull the manifolds. Besides it would be then easy to hose down the ports/valves and pull the valley covers if needed. Unfortunately, mice had made it from the exhaust system all the way to the left exhaust ports which apparently was the ideal place to build mouse condos.

I soaked the ports with more rust penetrant and may pull the valley covers later this week.

At this point, I really don't know how far I want to take this hell rocket, I have enough crap to fix, it is tougher than ever to find a competent machine shop & do I really want to build an engine for a car that is a good 250-300 hours from hitting the road? Fortunately I have all winter to think about it. One thing for sure. If I don't save this one, some clown will put an LS in it

Stay tuned!

[harry s]

Looks like a nice one and worthy of the save.     Harry

[Poncholover]

Currently have the ports filled up with the old Acetone & ATF trick. Guess we will see what happens!

[Poncholover]

I gave the fan blades the old Heave Ho the other day & she turns! the lifter valley looks pretty decent inside and the next step may be to pull the heads and do some clean up at the very least.
Does anyone have partial gasket sets around? For now, manifold gaskets will likely be enough.
let me know!

[Jeff Hansen]

Best Gaskets sells manifold sets.  You can find them on eBay and Egge sells them.  I'm sure other vendors do, too.

https://bestgasket.com/vintage-engine-gaskets/