63 Skylark Vert (a.k.a Turd Ferguson a.k.a. protracted turtle )

Hi,  I picked up this 63' a few weeks back.  It had an engine fire around 16 years ago.  The body was in good shape and the interior was in very good shape.  So I took a gamble on something that had sat in a storage unit for some time.  The motor rotated when I grabbed it, but we'll see later not very far.

The day I picked it up:




I didn't get any pictures of the initial engine bay, but I sanded and painted the worst of the fire area and started rewiring to get the engine to turn over then I'll rebuild the carbs and start this deal.


Well about this time I dropped some Marvel oil down the plugs and tried to rotate the engine by the crank pully bolt... very little movement.  All of the pistons are free, the distributor rotates, but I can't get more than 20-30 degrees of crank movement... pretty sad.  I did notice one of the spark plugs had some corrosion happening on it's electrode... bummer.

So I decided I would be patient with the motor, but I'm expecting to pull it now (actually sounds like fun).  So I moved on to restoring power to the main harness and also to the convertible top relay.  I figured it would be pretty easy and would provide that instant gratification...   The top motor wouldn't turn..  fine I'll take it apart and see what the deal is.

Here's the motor:


Here's the inside of the motor with the two bolts removed   :


I was still optimistic that I could fix it.  So if you're interested just drill out these solders:


And you have pull out this rotor.  It has a ball that's spring loaded into the case.  It took a few well placed blows to a vice grip attached to the rotor.


At that point I was able to start trying to remove the field coils in the pump part of the motor.  That junk was so caked in that I had to use heat to swell the case enough to get movement, but that caused the plates of the field coil to separate... I decided to cut bait... I've ordered a new pump and hose kit for the top and I'll be purging the hydraulic cylinders and converting to ATF.  I could have messed with rewinding the field coil, but I still would have needed new brushes and the wiring was pretty crusty etc.  If someone needs a motor or pump case let me know.  I'll be hording these for a while.


Any ideas why the motor will only rotate 30*?  Could it be the fuel pump?  I'm on the lookout for a motor stand and a used 215 or rover v8 while I'm working on the top.

I planned to redo the brake system, so having the motor out of the way will be nice.  I'll probably converting the front to disk.  Seems cheap and easy.  I need all new parts including a master cylinder.  Basically anything that could have melted under the hood did.  Including the lead in the battery!  

I'll leave you with this:
 I figured I should show at least one pretty picture.

Cheers,
Matt

lol

Got the top dropped yesterday.  It was nice to stand up in the car to do work.





















And another pretty picture to complete the theme... not sure how long I can keep this up though:


Have a nice weekend,
Matt

Ohh I missed the turtle coming out of his shell opportunity... ;P

So I decided to keep working on the mechanical part of the top.  Ordered a new pump and lines.  I removed the old cylinders to get all the brake fluid out and to clean them up to help w/ leak spotting.





Next up was the pump.  The one I ordered was supposed to fit a 63 skylark, but it didn't fit mine.  It could be some wierdness with the mounting brackets, but I was able to swap the reservoir part and it all worked out.  Below you can see the differences in the length of the reservoir.



Last night I bled the system.  I needed to replace the rubber bushings on the lower pivot of one of the cylinders and found these (below) from O'Reilly's.  I'll be able to confirm they work in a few days.



First I need to paint these access panels to stop the rust.  Not that it's noticeable, but the longer I spend on this type of free crap the more I can spend on the coming motor build...



Here it is, your moment of Zen:


Matt

I made this access panel pretty again


Installed with the cleaned up cylinders and new hose, pump, and ATF.


The grommets I got from O'Reilly worked pretty well.

Top drops and all is right in the universe.



Next plan is to un-anchor this skylark/215.  I'm battling the "while I'm here" ideas.  So it's good that it's a lot colder than usual here.  I need time to decide what to do, and it will depend on what the guts of the lump look like spilled out all of the table in all it's gory glory.  I secretly wanted a manual all along, but it would be cool if the wife can still drive it...  ohh well I'll have plenty of time to decide while I'm redoing the fuel and brake lines, and the motor, or prepping for a swap (probably not).  [/Stream of consciousness]

Hi Gary from sunny Az. Did you do an engine swap in your 63? I have a 63 an was thinking of doing something, not sure what. Interested in what you may have done? Thanks in advance.