Engine won't crank - earth or more serious? Options

[euro914er]

Hi everyone,

I'm a new UK owner - circa 6 months - of a 1.8L, 1974 in chrome yellow. The car is ex west coast, then was imported into the UAE by its PO around 4 years ago. There it was stripped down, repainted and reupholstered. The engine was put back in, but never recommissioned. The PO then came back to the UK about 2 years but never got around to connecting everything back up - all the vac hoses were missing, fuel lines gone and lots of wires go nowhere. Well I've sorted all of this and a few weeks back I attempted to turn her over. I was met with a "click" and after a quick google, internet wisdom pointed towards the solenoid. This was replaced and now the click has turned into a thunk. Jacking the wheel up and putting it into fifth, I can just about get the wheel to turn 180 degrees before I reach a hard stop. Plugs are out and diesel has been poured into to each cylinder. BTW - some leaks out of one cylinder - should it be doing that?

I'm now at the limit of my knowledge - some posts suggest its an earth strap problem - others suggest something more serious such as a stuck valve. The drivers side valve cover is over and all looks normal (according to a colleague). The passenger side will be more tricky as its deeply buried.

So what does the collective feel should be my next move? I've resisted pulling out the engine but I have a feeling I'm head that way. As you can see, she's mint apart from a sick engine

[VaccaRabite]

Well, better to know and get it fixed.
The piston is trashed. What about the cylinder?

The head can be fixed if you can find someone to clean it up and weld and machine it back. But you may be better off doing a top end rebuild with a pair of new heads.

Using an old head is a dice roll. You want to be able to closely examine the head to make sure it's not stress fractured and that the valves are okay. Rebuilding a used head the costs will approach going with a new one and not having those issues. But if you get a good used head you can be back on the road with potentially a lot less money. In my experience, used heads tend to be a false economy unless you spend the money to have them fully rebuilt.

Zach