Engine Siezed...

Fortunately not on my 308 but rather on my little 1932 Riley which I've been restoring for the last 10 - 12 years. I need to preface this by saying I hope I'm not breaking any F-Chat regs by seeking advice on a non F car but I need wisdom here as I've apparently done something incredably dumb. Pretend I'm talking about a 4 cyl 500 Mondial if that broadens your comfort zone.
Anyway, as mentioned, I've been working on this car for quite some time. About 2 years ago I finally got the fully rebuilt engine in and with rudimentary electricals got it fired up. I was pleased, to say the least, with this milestone and moved on to the next checklist item which was doing a complete re-wire using the original type cloth covered wire in the correct colors. Somehow work, home projects, etc got in my way (sound familiar?) and it only occured to me recently that it would be a good idea to turn the engine which is, to my horror, stuck solid!
"No big deal" I thought. I pulled the plugs and squirted in some oil thinking that it would free up fairly quickly. Nope! Then tried some WD40 because I happened to have it on hand but still no result. I then removed the starter thinking that it might have somehow siezed but of course it hadn't. The car has a handy hand crank at the front of the engine which I had been using but I decided to drop the car down off its jackstands to see if rolling it back and forth would do anything. It will go about a foot before stopping which probably indicates fairly massive slop in the differential and driveshaft but still no engine turning.

So....My question is what do those of you with great experience recommend? My experience with carburetor rebuilding has been that gasoline left untouched can turn into a very unforgiving varnish-like glue and the fact that I've got new rings in there means there's very little tolerence for a solvent to work through. I realize my question may be sort of along the lines of "what's your favorite car wax" where there will be as many answers as there are wax manufacturors but I can't keep throwing in stuff at random or I will fill the tiny cylinders with primordal ooze very quickly. Thank you in advance for your thoughts and recomendations!

Steve

 

Positive. Penrite "running in" oil. In fact we had a bit of trouble getting the oil pump to prime but once that was done got a steady 80 p.s.i. which we were able to adjust easily with the pressure relief valve.

I'm really kind of astonished by this as I have pulled numerous cars out of barns and fields that had not turned for ages and managed to get them turning without difficulty.

Also a bit surprised that Marvel Mystery is the solution of choice just because its been around for ages. I would have thought someone would have invented a better mousetrap with high tech chemicals and such. On the other hand, if I had a radiator leak I would immediately put in some Bars Leak which has also been around forever. Makes you wonder about all of those "New" and "Improved" ads we see!

 

Tex-

I'm pretty sure its not the starter because the starter is sitting on my bench - that was my thought also. There is a dynamo at the front of the engine driven directly off the crankshaft. I suppose I should pull that also (kind of a PITA) but I can't really imagine that a dynamo would freeze up. Just in case some of you may not have seen a Riley engine lately I'm attaching some photos. On the exhaust side you can see the hole that the starter goes into just below the voltage regulator. The flywheel teeth are right there and I tryed some prying with a big screwdriver but had to be careful not to break the transmission case. I just checked stock at the auto parts store and they have some Marvel so I guess I'll go pick some up and let it soak for a week or so.

Thanks for help from all

Steve
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Nothing to be sad about really. All part of the restoration process which has taught me a great deal about patience. I'm always amused by the TV shows that take a car from a wreck to a jewell in 48 hours. It all goes together so neatly on the first try. The reality is that you can expect to take apart anything you've assembled 3 or 4 times to get it right. Then there's always the chicken and the egg issues; "lets see, I can't put in this thingy without this other thingy going in first - but the second thingy requires the other thingy to be in place before assembly"

By the way, the pierced metal framework was made up to hold the dashboard and "firewall" (made of mahogony!) in their correct place to get the new wiring done in the correct lenghts. It (sort of) duplicates the cowl structure which is made up of english ash wood. So don't be sad - it will be wonderfully satisfying when done and its great to have a resource like f-chat even thought I'm stretching things a bit by asking all to pretend its a 500 Mondial. There's some knocking on my door - OMG its the F-Chat Police!!!

 

I wish! Actually its a model they called the "Gamecock" Pretty rare in the U.S. but well known in Britain, Australia and South Africa. Back in the early 90's I drove it from San Diego to Monterey and back - close to 1000 miles. Got the vintage racing bug and ran it for two years at Laguna and could not for the life of me get it to go around that track 10 times in a row. Always something minor, coil goes bad, etc. Finally got so frustrated I decided to pull it apart down to the last bolt. Tex has a point - it WAS running, but very tired in most respects. I went through some agony over the loss of the "patina" but the line between patina and what the Brits call "knackered" is a fine one. When your car becomes too knackered its just a step away from "perished"