[Tigers] Removing frozen pistons

[Dave Munroe]

John:

If I understand correctly that you were beating on the rod cap mating 
surface with a hammer and screwdriver, I don't think that's a good idea. I 
would use a large piece of wood as suggested by Mike, cut to fit the top of 
the piston. Rotate the crank off the rod, put a rag between it and the crank 
journal, and beat on the top of the piston until it breaks loose. (after 
soaking it in the acetone/ATF mix of course).

If you can't beat the piston all the way out because of rod/crank 
interference (can't remember), once the piston rings are broken loose, use a 
wooden drift, a dowel or old broom handle shaved to get to the underside of 
the piston head and beat it out through the top.

Shouldn't mess with the rod cap surfaces unless you are going to replace 
them. Hard rubber or dead-blow hammers are good if there is little 
resistance to movement once broken loose.

Dave



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "michael at michaelshortt.com" <michaelsavga at gmail.com>
To: <johnp at ciseast.com>
Cc: <tigers at autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 9:48 PM
Subject: Re: [Tigers] Removing frozen pistons


> 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF from the topside, let it pool about an inch
> deep and sit overnight.
> Next day, it's 2x4 cut to fit bore size and big a$$ rubber hammer time.
>
> If that doesn't work, you can try heating the cylinder walls with a 
> propane
> torch ( while trying to keep the piston cool ) thus allowing the walls to
> expand a tiny bit while piston remains the same size and bang on it some
> more.
>
> Good Luck
>
> Michael Shortt
> On Dec 19, 2012 8:13 PM, <johnp at ciseast.com> wrote:
>
>> I am disassembling a 289 but have two pistons that I can't get to slide
>> out.
>> I thought my fellow Tiger experts might give a few suggestions on the 
>> best
>> way to "nudge" them loose.
>>
>> Here's what I've done so far.  I had a few others that didn't want to 
>> move
>> so I sprayed PB Blaster on top of all piston edges and let sit.  Then the
>> next day I flipped the engine over and sprayed PB Blaster between all
>> cylinder walls and piston skirts and let sit for a day.  On third day, 
>> with
>> connecting rod caps off, I used a heavy screwdriver and hammer to tap the
>> connecting rod at the cap mating surface to ease the piston out.  I took
>> great care to protect the crank surfaces from damage.  This worked well 
>> but
>> when slipping the caps back onto connecting rods after removal, I found
>> that
>> one cap wouldn't slip back onto the connecting rod.  Hopefully just a 
>> bent
>> bolt but I want to make sure that the rods don't get messed up.  I'm 
>> still
>> working on the front balancer bolt with PB Blaster and my impact wrench 
>> for
>> removal.  Any suggestions for the two pistons still not moving?
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