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MG MGB Technical - Engine Siezed? Swap for later one?

We're getting to the end of the resurrection of the 66BGT. It's pretty much all done and the engine that came with the bag of bits that was the car when we bought it appears to have siezed over winter.

It turned on the crank bolt when it was out of the car before we dropped it into the car early December.

In the meanwhile we've been sorting electrics, pipework and all the other myriad things that have to be done when the shell was completely bare.

SO today I connected the battery up and after removing the plugs intended cranking it over to get oil pressure up before attempting to fire it up.... nothing other than a strained clunk on the start motor.

I've tried a big socket on the end of the crank but and can't turn it with that either... frustrated is the word.

Is there any magic fluid I can squirt down the bores to see if I can free it up insitu?

We can pull it out and swap it for a known engine that came out of my Rubber Bumper BGT but then we have to swap the mounts as the RB unit has the round mounts and the unit that is in has the rectangular mounts. Not sure if the the end plate would need changing at the same time, has anyone got any experience of this swap?

I know it's not insurmountable but don't want to have to throw money at it to resolve it, we're seriously trying to keep the budget down on this one.

Andrew


Andrew McGee

You could try soaking it in diesel, I've heard that works well, although I haven't tried it.

I think you would need an oil change after.

As for the engine mounts, you do need to change the front plate, I believe. I have a R/B engine to fit into mine when the bodywork is finished.
Dave O'Neill2

Thanks Dave.

Will try the diesel route first before we pull it out.

Just had a look in the parts manual and yes the front plates need swapping along with the timing cover and timing assembly. Oh well if it needs doing then I guess I'll have to get my head into it. It will be new things that I'm doing. Plenty of photo's before I strip stuff down I guess.

Thanks again.
Andrew McGee

Andrew,

A lot of people swear by a 50/50 mix of acetone and automatic trans fluid. Somewhere I saw some tests that pitted the mix against several packaged rust breakers, and it surpassed them. Use plenty of it. Also, after soaking, you can try putting it in gear and rocking the car. Since it hasn't been stuck long I suspect it will free up.

I once had one that I couldn't free up, but when I tore it down it was the wrist pins that were frozen so all the soaking did nothing.

Charley
C R Huff

Andrew - before getting to carried away with soaking anything in the engine, check to see if the starter gear is jammed in the flywheel. I had that happen once in our 66 MGB and I had to remove the starter to get things unjammed - once I did, the engine turned freely. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

David.

Go to the top of the class. That's exactly what it was.
Once I'd removed the starter everything moved as it had done previously. I swapped it for another starter out of the parts shed and once that was fitted the engine still moved on the crank nut and happily cranked over on the key.

I then found the lead carb was leaking, so that'll come off at the weekend to have the sticking float cleaned out (again, it had previously stuck on the Jubilee may years back).

One point of concern I still have though, is that even with the amount of cranking over (several minutes worth in total) there was no evidence of oil pressure on the gauge. So the engine might be dead after all.

We'll see.

Andrew
Andrew McGee

Well, that was a good outcome. You might need to do some priming to get it to pick up oil pressure. I don't remember the exact details of where to prime it. Do you know the history of the engine? If the 3-main brg. oil pump gasket is used on a 5 main brg. oil pump, it won't want to make oil pressure.

Charley
C R Huff

It's an 18V engine from a 71 and it came with the car, although not in the car when we emptied the previous owners garage of bits.

It could be a duffer, it could be okay, I haven't a clue tbh just crossing fingers that we've got a reasonable unit in the bargain!
Andrew McGee

This thread was discussed on 14/05/2013

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