I got the front sheet metal removed. The one front frame horn ahead of the crossmember is bent, the rest is good. The 261...seized solid.
I removed the plugs, and sprayed copious amounts of penetrant into all cylinders for 5 days straight. Today I was able to bar it over, so that's good. However it will not make one full revolution. I removed the valve cover, vacuumed out some seeds and pieces of the rear seat then watched for valves possibly being stuck. It appeared OK but sticky so I removed the rocker shaft assembly and tried again. Same deal. all the valves are closed, plugs out. I can only assume I have a rust ridge bad enough to keep it from making one full rev. I'm going to remove the head and see what's what rather than try to force it and maybe break a ring.
Horn ring, bent and broken. The parts car is finally coming tomorrow, I'm hoping it has a good one. The interior is cleaning up nicely, upholstery is actually in good shape minus the headliner. The dash chrome and stuff cleaned up super nice!
I hooked up a battery for giggles, not expecting anything. Instead I got this:
And this:
Interior light, park/courtesy lights and brake lights all work. I couldn't test the heater fan or the headlights...
So I've had more time to plot scheme and plan. I have a short term plan and a medium term plan. Short term is get the 261 running, finish cleaning things up, tires, brakes etc and enjoy it dead stock. Long term is build up a 6.0 LQ-4, save up for a T56, install either an explorer 8.8" or put together a 9" rear. I'll keep the steel wheels and poverty caps...
Hope everyone else is doing well. I'll try not to be such a stranger moving forward.
Lots of work but lots of satisfaction when your efforts pay off! Keep at it, eh.
I replaced or rebuilt every single suspension and steering piece front and rear, installed new power front disc brakes w/ master cylinder, rebuilt rear brakes and emergency brake, all relatively easy to do and as you know parts are easy to come by since they are 100% 55-7 Chevy. And when done, the car will drive great.
Given your plan to eventually dump the anemic 6, I would caution you about spending money on it in the short run. You will end up spending hundreds of dollars, not to mention all of your time, because once you fix one thing you will discover another - starter, generator, voltage regulator, carburetor, distributor, water pump, fuel pump, the list goes on and on. When you start with a non-running long-neglected motor, the seizing is just the beginning of the problems. I speak from experience - I had the same plan as you, fix it up to be a safe driver and run the 261 for a while - mine did run (poorly) when I got it so I kept fixing one thing after the other - I finally pulled the plug on it when I discovered it had the wrong head and needed at least one new valve as well as a valve job.
Maybe you will be lucky and not have to do all that. I hope so, for your sake, if that is the route you choose.
Or maybe you should skip the short-term and go for the motot/tranny you really want, right from the start, and take a little longer to do it all. I wish I would have done that from the start.
Just my two cents (and lots of wasted dollars).
Dave
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1956 Pontiac Pathfinder 2dr sedan, 496 - dyno'd 545 hp, stick shift, 4.11 posi - Hot Rod
I'm not averse to spending even a grand or so to get it running well again and driveable. What I don't want is another multi-year project sitting in my garage mocking me. I have a K5 Blazer I have been messing with off and on for quite a while now. Because I can't drive it at the moment it has gone several long stretches where I don't even want to look at it. It's close to roadworthy again, and I have vowed anything further I do to it will be in small weekend sized chunks so it's not down for so long again. If I get the 57 driveable I can enjoy it while I put together an LQ4 etc. The new drive train will take some time to save for, assemble etc...
I'm not averse to spending even a grand or so to get it running well again and driveable. What I don't want is another multi-year project sitting in my garage mocking me. I have a K5 Blazer I have been messing with off and on for quite a while now. Because I can't drive it at the moment it has gone several long stretches where I don't even want to look at it. It's close to roadworthy again, and I have vowed anything further I do to it will be in small weekend sized chunks so it's not down for so long again. If I get the 57 driveable I can enjoy it while I put together an LQ4 etc. The new drive train will take some time to save for, assemble etc...
Rene, that makes complete sense to me and that should be your course of action. Good luck with the 57 project. Cheers. George
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1957 Pontiac Pathfinder Deluxe sedan restored 261 six
1974 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon low mileage original 400 V-8
I'm not averse to spending even a grand or so to get it running well again and driveable. What I don't want is another multi-year project sitting in my garage mocking me. I have a K5 Blazer I have been messing with off and on for quite a while now. Because I can't drive it at the moment it has gone several long stretches where I don't even want to look at it. It's close to roadworthy again, and I have vowed anything further I do to it will be in small weekend sized chunks so it's not down for so long again. If I get the 57 driveable I can enjoy it while I put together an LQ4 etc. The new drive train will take some time to save for, assemble etc...
Makes total sense to me! Thanks for the updates. Truly, with all the history and mystique your car has, it is one of my favourite builds on this board. Wrecked in the sixties, sitting all these years, bringing it back to life, finding "interesting" items in the car. There's a story here to tell!!
I'll try to make the next one Randy. Didn't mean to flake out on you guys, just got busy working on my K5 then doing renovations on the house. When are you guys meeting next and where?
I'll try to make the next one Randy. Didn't mean to flake out on you guys, just got busy working on my K5 then doing renovations on the house. When are you guys meeting next and where?
Next Sat, 7 pm at Johns place. Check out his thread Edm CP garage tour...and wear a white T shirt.
I'm not averse to spending even a grand or so to get it running well again and driveable. What I don't want is another multi-year project sitting in my garage mocking me. I have a K5 Blazer I have been messing with off and on for quite a while now. Because I can't drive it at the moment it has gone several long stretches where I don't even want to look at it. It's close to roadworthy again, and I have vowed anything further I do to it will be in small weekend sized chunks so it's not down for so long again. If I get the 57 driveable I can enjoy it while I put together an LQ4 etc. The new drive train will take some time to save for, assemble etc...
Makes total sense to me! Thanks for the updates. Truly, with all the history and mystique your car has, it is one of my favourite builds on this board. Wrecked in the sixties, sitting all these years, bringing it back to life, finding "interesting" items in the car. There's a story here to tell!!
Keep it coming!
X 2 !!!!!!!
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1957 Pontiac Pathfinder Deluxe sedan restored 261 six
1974 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon low mileage original 400 V-8
Well, me and a friend have spent some time on the parts car of sadness. I have to say it's pretty much been a waste of money, and today was just depressing. We got the front end sheet metal off, and did find some good solid parts. The 283 however is complete junk. At some point it appears the short block was replaced with a Chevy 283. Orange block, heads and intake are Pontiac green like my 261. I had hopes it would prove to be a decent rebuildable core. The scary things, no valve covers, no oil filler cap, no water pump, carb removed and set aside. We removed the distributor hold down, and it wouldn't budge in any direction. We did finally get the distributor out, but broke it doing so. We removed the intake and the lifter valley was debris filled. Under the debris was just crust, lifters seized solid in the bores. Removed one head, and half the pushrods broke off.
The guy I got the parts car from is offering me another 283. We'll see how that goes, but for the most part this parts car was one big fail!
Well, me and a friend have spent some time on the parts car of sadness. I have to say it's pretty much been a waste of money, and today was just depressing. We got the front end sheet metal off, and did find some good solid parts. The 283 however is complete junk. At some point it appears the short block was replaced with a Chevy 283. Orange block, heads and intake are Pontiac green like my 261. I had hopes it would prove to be a decent rebuildable core. The scary things, no valve covers, no oil filler cap, no water pump, carb removed and set aside. We removed the distributor hold down, and it wouldn't budge in any direction. We did finally get the distributor out, but broke it doing so. We removed the intake and the lifter valley was debris filled. Under the debris was just crust, lifters seized solid in the bores. Removed one head, and half the pushrods broke off.
The guy I got the parts car from is offering me another 283. We'll see how that goes, but for the most part this parts car was one big fail!
I'll snap a few pics later.
Man, that sounds like a typical old car story. Very unfortunate.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Well, me and a friend have spent some time on the parts car of sadness. I have to say it's pretty much been a waste of money, and today was just depressing. We got the front end sheet metal off, and did find some good solid parts. The 283 however is complete junk. At some point it appears the short block was replaced with a Chevy 283. Orange block, heads and intake are Pontiac green like my 261. I had hopes it would prove to be a decent rebuildable core. The scary things, no valve covers, no oil filler cap, no water pump, carb removed and set aside. We removed the distributor hold down, and it wouldn't budge in any direction. We did finally get the distributor out, but broke it doing so. We removed the intake and the lifter valley was debris filled. Under the debris was just crust, lifters seized solid in the bores. Removed one head, and half the pushrods broke off.
Man, that sounds like a typical old car story. Very unfortunate.
Yep. I bought for cheap, a 283 that I knew was stuck, but I didn't know how bad it actually was. Two pistons are welded in place. It's was soaking in trans fluid for months and they still wouldn't budge. I gave up. At least I got my money back in other parts, but that still doesn't erase the fact that I now have a boat anchor.
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
I guess i'm an optimist at heart, when I should be looking at this stuff more critically. At least the guy is going to hook me up with another 283, and if it's the same engine he was going to hook me up with before I went with the boat anchor, it's a '59 Vette 283 with 305 heads. I think Wednesday I'll have time to head out there.
OK, my buddy and I got in another good day in the garage. First some pics of the 283 boat anchor...
The lifters are fused to the block, and the pushrods are fused in the through holes in the heads. Most are still stuck in the head r have broken. The 4 barrel manifold could be saved, and the 4GV carb looks complete. That's it...
So, onto the better part of the day. The 261 in my car was seized and I spent 5 days with penetrant and persistence to get it broke free. It did break free, but wouldn't make a full revolution. I was scared it might also be terminal. Today we decided to pull the head off the 261 and see what the status was. Turns out some bird seed from the intake manifold was drawn into #5 when I was turning it over with a bar. The seed debris was enough to keep it from making a full rev. So, we vac'd out the little bit of seed debris and cleaned up the block, piston tops and cyl bores.
The cyl's have a little surface rust that does clean up nicely, and a very slight ridge up top. i'm going to do a bit more cleaning, get the valves done and put it back together.
The overall condition inside is decent, not to gunked up. It appears to have had regular oil changes back in the day. The head looks OK, no cracks I can see, it should clean up OK.
OK, my buddy and I got in another good day in the garage. First some pics of the 283 boat anchor...
The lifters are fused to the block, and the pushrods are fused in the through holes in the heads. Most are still stuck in the head r have broken. The 4 barrel manifold could be saved, and the 4GV carb looks complete. That's it...
Wow, that already looks like it has been used as a boat anchor in salt water!
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
Rene, it is obvious to me that you should be building the 261 inline six. Too bad about the 283 set backs but look at it this way, some one in old car heaven is telling you............................. build the motor that came with the car originally............................... the 261 six. Good luck to you brother and cheers. George.
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1957 Pontiac Pathfinder Deluxe sedan restored 261 six
1974 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon low mileage original 400 V-8
I've been slowly going through and cleaning the 261 while waiting for parts. The engine paint I ordered showed up, so I figured I'd spritz a few parts.
I think the color is a good match, but the finish is a bit flatter than I expected. Still miles better than huge globs of grease...
I still have a lot of block cleaning to do, but re-assembly and hopefully a start up vid should be coming soon.
1956 Pontiac Pathfinder 2dr sedan, 496 - dyno'd 545 hp, stick shift, 4.11 posi - Hot Rod
