Re: Best Way to Unseize an Engine

[chinewalker]

On a few occasions where the piston was particularly stubborn, I have decided to sacrifice the piston to save the block. Of course, this depends on rarity, access to replacement, etc. The last one I did was a Mark 55 that had one pistons more or less encrusted to the cylinder wall. I sleeved a tube over a drill bit and bored a hole through the dome of the piston. I then used a chisel to crack the wrist pin bosses in the piston skirt to the point where I could remove the connecting rod. With access to the hole in the piston dome, I was able to use a combination of hacksaw and chisel to cut through the piston at two places to collapse it in on itself. Slow and carefully so as to not cut into the cylinder wall. It worked, and a good honing & new (used) piston later, it became a good runner.