stuck flathead

ratrig

ratrig

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
I just acquired a 36 ford 1.5 ton truck with a 24 stud flat head. The engine is stuck but the truck and motor are in excellent condition. I have read about all the mystery oil ,tranny fluid,wd40 and penetrating oils to pour in the plug holes and let sit, but if its stuck valves I could do some damage. New head gaskets seem to be over 100$ if I was to remove the heads and do it proper.
I know these are the less desirable engines so I am not interested in rebuilding it and keeping. Is it worth much to sell as is or spend the money to get it running and sell.
 
My experience in selling them running or not is that the buyer will want to pull the heads to check for cracks before they want to buy it so I'd sell it as is..I use diesel in the cylinders to free mine.
 
A friend bought a 51 Ford that had sat for 20 years. Motor was stuck, so they
put solvent in the cylinders, let it sit for a week, then towed it around the yard with a tractor to free it up. He is still driving the car to this day, having never taken the engine apart.
 
thanks for the replies. I'm really in no hurry to do anything with it yet as I am concentrating on building another engine. I guess it wouldn't hurt to soak it and gently tug on it with the tractor after a couple weeks and see if it frees up. I would love to hear it run:)
 
If you are not in a rush then fill the cylinders and also down the carb to flood the intake valves. Top up every few days. Wait a few weeks and tow with the tractor . Lots of them break free and end up as runners.
 
flatcat said:
If you are not in a rush then fill the cylinders and also down the carb to flood the intake valves. Top up every few days. Wait a few weeks and tow with the tractor . Lots of them break free and end up as runners.
Click to expand...

Thx, I filled the cylinders with a mixture of PB blaster and ATF this morning. I will add some atf down the carb as well.
 
Used diesel on a 53 flathead, put it into each cylinder and down the carb. Repeated a couple times, then towed it around a bit and it broke free. Had been sitting for years, runs like a top now.

Did the same on a model a engine recently, broke free easily after a couple days of soak time.
 
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