Hitchcocks Forum

Hi Guys

I am undertaking a frame up rebuild of my 53 Meteor.. I have removed the engine and box and am stripping the engine down for ans inspection measure and clean up. . Heads are off but I cannot budge the barrels... I glued them on with Wellseal and well they're well stuck... Any ideas re soffenting up the Wellseal would be appreciated.. The studs are removed so nothing but Wellseal is holding the cylinders on.

REgards

Tom

Hot air gun? Blowlamp? Or have you already tried those?

A.

Hi Adrian

Not yet I'll give it a go..

Tom

I had a similar issue on a Honda. I rigged up a stand that it took the weight ( in your case) of the barrels and left the engine suspended in air off the bench; obviously only half an inch or so.

Be careful to support the fins. I then sprayed all sorts of lubricating/releasing things round and inside the barrel and left it a week. This sufficiently loosened it enough (not visibly) so that some more pulling and grunting separated it.


John

A kettle full of boiling water poured over the join followed by a few taps with a wooden mallet was worked for me on occasions .

Very careful work with two or three Stanley knife blades can work. Hold them flat and tap them into the joint with a light hammer, they will usually go in a bit at a time, in turn, without doing any harm and the slight taper of the knife edges will impart very slight, but very strong 'lift'. This method works very well for me with crankcases which do not want to part and, with care, no damage will be done.

Tomshayes1 wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 28, 2019 7:00 pm

Hi Guys

I am undertaking a frame up rebuild of my 53 Meteor.. I have removed the engine and box and am stripping the engine down for ans inspection measure and clean up. . Heads are off but I cannot budge the barrels... I glued them on with Wellseal and well they're well stuck... Any ideas re soffenting up the Wellseal would be appreciated.. The studs are removed so nothing but Wellseal is holding the cylinders on.

REgards

Tom

If you are doing a complete engine strip down take it to bits as much as to you can, and dunk the rests- in diesel for a month, it will come apart then.

Thanks for the tips guys a few to try there.

I will let you know how it goes

REgards

Tom

Just thinking out loud, could you make effectively a giant strap wrench using a bit of thick webbing and a lump of wood and try to rotate the whole barrel?

Trouble is wellseal uses some nasty-arse solvent in the first place. Looked it up. Perchloroethylene. You can buy it on ebay as dry cleaning fluid though.

MEK might be worth a bash too? Not much that won't soften.

I'd imagine filling the stud holes to slightly above the level of the base gasket would be the best way to get your chosen solvent in there for a "soak".

I used the Stanley blade WD40 heat and brute force method...