Seized engine, Cannot remove barrels from crank case Options

[alungershausen]

Hi, first post ever. A friend at C&C told me to reach out. Heard this forum will help.

I bought a 1974 1.8 914 in March of 2025. It is now totally disassembled, and I am struggling with getting the engine taken apart. I cannot remove the cylinder heads, the flywheel does not turn, and the pistons do not move at all. In the last two months I tried, PB Blaster in the cylinders, also filled the case with it. I also filled the case with transmission oil and Marvel Mystery oil. Leaving it sitting for weeks on end, turning it every couple of days. I warmed up the engine with a heat gun, gently tapped the cylinder heads, also tapped the pistons. All with no success. It seems the cylinder heads are glued to the case, not one is moving. The former owner planned to replace the engine with a different one, but I am interested in bringing it back. When I drained the oil, I got about a quart of water (the car was in a field for 4 years) and a little bit of oil. Supposedly it ran 4 years ago.

I am planning to attach a lever to the flywheel next, but I don't want to damage the crankshaft. I have not tried a torch yet, not sure if it will damage the case. I am also hearing different places, either the bottom of the cylinders or the case to be warmed up with the torch. The cylinder head insides are pretty rusted and will need to be replaced anyway, but I am hoping that the crank case is still ok.

[alungershausen]

Hi, first post ever. A friend at C&C told me to reach out. Heard this forum will help.

I bought a 1974 1.8 914 in March of 2025. It is now totally disassembled, and I am struggling with getting the engine taken apart. I cannot remove the cylinder heads, the flywheel does not turn, and the pistons do not move at all. In the last two months I tried, PB Blaster in the cylinders, also filled the case with it. I also filled the case with transmission oil and Marvel Mystery oil. Leaving it sitting for weeks on end, turning it every couple of days. I warmed up the engine with a heat gun, gently tapped the cylinder heads, also tapped the pistons. All with no success. It seems the cylinder heads are glued to the case, not one is moving. The former owner planned to replace the engine with a different one, but I am interested in bringing it back. When I drained the oil, I got about a quart of water (the car was in a field for 4 years) and a little bit of oil. Supposedly it ran 4 years ago.

I am planning to attach a lever to the flywheel next, but I don't want to damage the crankshaft. I have not tried a torch yet, not sure if it will damage the case. I am also hearing different places, either the bottom of the cylinders or the case to be warmed up with the torch. The cylinder head insides are pretty rusted and will need to be replaced anyway, but I am hoping that the crank case is still ok.

[Aayala]

Hi, first post ever. A friend at C&C told me to reach out. Heard this forum will help.

I bought a 1974 1.8 914 in March of 2025. It is now totally disassembled, and I am struggling with getting the engine taken apart. I cannot remove the cylinder heads, the flywheel does not turn, and the pistons do not move at all. In the last two months I tried, PB Blaster in the cylinders, also filled the case with it. I also filled the case with transmission oil and Marvel Mystery oil. Leaving it sitting for weeks on end, turning it every couple of days. I warmed up the engine with a heat gun, gently tapped the cylinder heads, also tapped the pistons. All with no success. It seems the cylinder heads are glued to the case, not one is moving. The former owner planned to replace the engine with a different one, but I am interested in bringing it back. When I drained the oil, I got about a quart of water (the car was in a field for 4 years) and a little bit of oil. Supposedly it ran 4 years ago.

I am planning to attach a lever to the flywheel next, but I don't want to damage the crankshaft. I have not tried a torch yet, not sure if it will damage the case. I am also hearing different places, either the bottom of the cylinders or the case to be warmed up with the torch. The cylinder head insides are pretty rusted and will need to be replaced anyway, but I am hoping that the crank case is still ok.

Very similar situation with the one I had recently. I had only one cylinder that would not come off. I placed it in this exact position and poured Mystery Oil and left it sit for 24-48 hours around that time. applied some heat after removing all the mystery oil (almost none made it through the rings) and kept tapping with a rubber/wood mallet. eventually came loose. The piston rings had rusted to the cylinder head in my case so the only way to get it off was that. if you have more than one cylinder rusted I can imagine that would be very hard to break the rust off the rings if one moves but the other doesnt. My case was only one so after i broke that free it came apart. Good luck mate.