Can anyone advise if I am doing something wrong here?

I am trying to hand crank the 305 CFI in my 83 Z28 so I can find TDC on cylinders #1. When I get the 5/8 inch socket around the camshaft bolt, the engine wont crank - it gets tighter when I rotate it right, and the bolt loosens when I turn left.

What am I doing wrong?

 

The bolt should be torqued to around 65 ft-lbs.

The engine should take around 30 to turn if freshly built, less (ALOT less) if it is old. Assuming all spark plugs out of course so there's no compression.

Regardless, using the bolt for that is a good way to break it or strip the threads. You should be using a crank turning socket. But if the motor won't turn at 65 ft-lbs, something is wrong.

 

Depends, if all accessories and rockers/valvesprings are on it its gonna be very difficult to turn by the crank bolt

may have to drop the belts and relax the rockers as well. Obviously have trans in neutral lol it should turn easier then

 

ing I'll assume this is a misprint, and you meant to post, crankshaft bolt.

Try grabbing hold of the belt that runs the accessories and turning the engine over with it.

 

pull the plugs it should turn over easy enough or get a remote starter and disconnect your coil

 

Its been a few weeks since I have been able to address this issue again. I removed the mechanical fan to better access the bolt, I also pulled the valve covers to let some oil trickle down (engine hasn’t been started in 5 years). I also pulled the plugs. To be clear, in the below photo, the center bolt is the one I am trying to crank the engine with, and this bolt just gets tighter and looser. What should my next step be?

 

Take it off, pull the damper, and use a crank socket. Something like this. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-g1063/overview/ Or this. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/pro-66782

Might want to PB Blast into the spark plug holes liberally and wait acoupla days first.

 

Thanks, I just ordered the second part, and the spray... I’ll post if it works out.

 

another method that is effective to turn a stiff engine is to remove torque converter dust cover and lever a large screwdriver or tire iron on flexplate ring gear teeth.

 

It sounds as if you may have some rust in one or more cylinders. The advice to get the crankshaft adapter that bolts to the harmonic balancer pulley bolts (the Proform tool) is the right answer. Hopefully, you don't have a lot of rust holding you up. But, be careful, it might require some patience. I just went through this with my car, that was parked in a garage for 25 years with no preparation. It was rusted tight in one cylinder, because that was the one with an open intake valve and the humidity condensed / collected in that runner.

You may also want to get this flexible straw for spraying penetrating oil into the cylinders: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Aerosol-Rep...IAAOSwSwhbfX6R. If you have AIR pump plumbing, it's really hard to get the can near the cylinders. This straw is great for that.

In my case, it took about 6 weeks of soaking, then applying torque to the crank adapter. You can't just put a breaker bar on it and give it max effort, you may break the crank tool. So, from my experience, soak all the cylinders heavily. Let it sit at least overnight, then apply load, maybe 80-100 ft -lbs, but not more. Apply in each direction. Eventually, mine started to move just a degree or two. Again, more penetrating oil and more days and I was finally able to get it to roll through a full revolution.

 

Torque the crank bolt to 65ft lbs before you run the motor. The balancer will come loose and destroy the crankshaft. To find #1 TDC, I pull all plugs, put a compression gauge in #1. When the needle starts to move, that's #1 coming up on compression. Looks like you have some rust to deal with first, if any of the cylinders look anything like that balancer.

 

Assuming the plugs are out. If you can't turn the crank with a 3/8" ratchet, it's too tight.

 

I hadn't thought about rust. I was concerned with critters.
My engine is in the garage on the engine test stand for about 3 years now. I will check it tonight.
If I have a good battery, I might just have to run it before it snows on Sunday.
Or if I want to get creative, I can combine the two.

 

Nice snow thrower! That should get the job done.

I would suggest to be careful with the starter motor if you can't roll the engine by hand. You may break something, possibly even a piston if the rings are stuck. In my engine, the corrosion was severe and it took a while to work through. If I had hit the starter, it would not have been good. Once I was able to roll it over, then I went to the starter to make a compression check. Once I pulled a head, the bore didn't look so bad, although I had a cup or two of rusty sludge from the penetrating oil. Your engine has been dormant a much shorter time and I would expect much less trouble freeing it up, but a little rust is a powerful thing.

 

I put the breaker bar on the center crank bolt last night and the engine rotated, no problem. Whew!
If I do decide to fire it up, then I will "fog" it with Marvel Mystery Oil. I plan to put some in a spray bottle and mist into the carb until it stalls.
Or I could let it be drawn in through a vacuum port. Maybe I will just add some to the fuel.
What do the rest of you think would be best?

 

be careful as liquid will not compress , it will put a hole right through a piston or lock the motor and bend a rod

It's ok to feed a little at a time but if you pour it in it could be catatrophic

I'd put it in the fuel, maybe even some in the oil if the engine runs right. But then change the fuel filter. Not sure paper fuel filters are totally 'oil proof' and the MM might do something there, not sure
If you had the heads off i'd say put MM in the cylinders and let it sit a while. You might even consider doing this anyways (put MM in through the plugs) but you would need to be super careful to get it all out before putting back in the plugs.

 

Yes, not pour - mist it in the carb with a spray bottle.

 

With the warmer weather, I have been able to get back to work. I pulled all the spark plugs and I installed the crankshaft rotation tool to a breaker bar. I sprayed all of the cylinders with wd40. I have has some success, in that it went from not budging at all, to about a quarter revolution before a hard stop.

Can anyone diagnoses this problem, and prescribe my next step?

 

In my stuck engine, it turned out that I had rust in a couple of cylinders. I soaked all cylinders with Liquid Wrench and / or PB blaster over several weeks. At first it moved only a few degrees and then stopped. I worked it back until it stopped and forward until it stopped. Each day it would go a little further until one day it rolled all the way over.
So, try to go back the other direction, soak it some more and then take it back forward. Be patient. If it is rust, it will probably gradually break down and break loose.

 

Update:

Finally was able to release the engine. Thanks to everyone, what you all suggested worked. A few weeks ago I put one good coating of wd40 penetrating spray in each spark plug hole. That didn’t do the trick but it likely laid a good foundation. Yesterday I was finally able to apply myself to the task. Throughout the day I did 3 more wd40 applications and also dumped a quart of oil down each cylinder head - constantly rotating the motor in each direction until it stopped. I wasn’t necessarily gentle with it, and time will tell if that mattered, but this was a last ditch effort anyway. Finally after about 300 rotations back and forth, it eased up and I could literally hear the rust freeing.
Next I will begin putting everything back together that I had to remove to perform this task (valve covers, fan, accessory belts) once I have it all back together, I will post an update.
If/when I get it running, I plan on immediately pulling the motor for a rebuild.

Thanks again.

 

One last suggestion. Before you try to start it, you might want to try spinning with the starter with the plugs out. If that is good and clears our the rust residue, you might try a compression check to see what you're dealing with. In my case, compression was close to zero (<30) on the bad cylinder due to a rusted valve seat and really bad bore. Depending on what you find, you might want to stop there and pull the engine (since that's your plan) to prevent further damage. At least now, you or your engine shop can get it apart.