1956 Buick Super Bent Push Rods Help Please

[Jamison39]

1956 Buick Super four door with the 322ci.

I was very close to purchasing this from my grandpa when all of a sudden it started running terribly.  We pulled the intake manifold only to find three bent pushrods.  This car was sitting for 14 years before we got it running a few weeks ago.  Im assuming that these valves are stuck.  Short of taking the heads off can anyone give me some advice on how to fix this?  Also, there is no oil coming through the rocker arms when the engine is being turned over.  My experience on Pontiac engine is the oil will squirt a few feet when turned over.  Can someone also please give me some guidance on how to get oil flowing through the rocker arms?  Thanks in advance for your support!

[avgwarhawk]

Can you physically push any of the valves down?  As far as oiling, the oil will basically drip from the rails that hold the rocker arms.   There is no squirting of oil.  Is there oil up top?  Did the oil pressure gauge show pressure when it was running?

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2019 by avgwarhawk (see edit history)

[Bloo]

Some bad gas probably got in there and glued the valves in place . Can you move those valves now?

 

It is possible (usually) to unstick valves without taking the heads off, but it might be more work. If they wont just easily come unstuck, you can fill each cylinder with rope, compress it against the valves (by hand) with the piston, and take off the valve springs. You will probably need to make your own prying tool to compress the valvesprings. Then, a combination of carb cleaner, penetrating oil and pounding with a SOFT  hammer may get them loose, Only a brass or plastic hammer, don't use a steel one. Once they move wash the guides out well with the carb clean and penetrating oil, then reassemble.

 

If stuck valves from bad fuel are the problem, you will most likely need to clean the whole fuel system out. For now, I would clean out the carb (overhaul it), the fuel pump, and the line, and then I would start the repaired engine on some premix (gas with 2-cycle oil in it from a boat can), and warm it up. Once you have a good engine again, move on to cleaning out the gas tank and the line to the back.

 

Or, you could pull the heads.

 

I would not expect it to squirt oil while cranking. Most engines dribble. There are plenty of 322 people in this forum and I expect someone will post the answer to that soon.

 

 

Edited May 2, 2019 by Bloo (see edit history)

[JohnD1956]

You need to remove the rocker shafts to replace the push rods anyway, so start there.   When they are off you should be able to check that none of them are stuck and you should see a film of oil.  The oil to the rockers comes through the front rocker shaft base.  It is low pressure oil supply according to the manual.

Then flows through the rocker shaft where it feeds into each rocker arm.  The oil supply in the rocker arm drops oil onto the valve stem as well as the rocker arm bearing surface. but these two passages are separately drilled in the rocker arm.

 

With the rocker shafts removed you should see the three valves that are involved.  If they are dry then you have a passage blocked in the rocker assembly.  If they are stuck their springs will be compressed.  Put some light oil, or penetrating oil on the valve stem and I'd follow what Bloo said, cotton rope through the spark plug hole and then rotate the piston to the top of the cylinder manually to try and  push them back up. 

 

You may have to disassemble the rocker shafts to clean them out if this is the case.  Be sure to put it back together in the exact same order it is taken apart, noting the orientation of the shaft to the rockers themselves. 

[Frank DuVal]

I have stuck valves in a Corvair with stale gas. My own fault, put stale gas from a customer car into the shop van (how else do you get rid of it legally?????) but didn't notice how low on fuel it was. Moved van, parked for a little bit, then started it back up. Instant miss. Lucky no bent pushrods, just rockers loose on one head's intake valves. I used penetrating oil on the valve stems and tapped with a soft mallet until the stems moved back into position with the spring pressure. Pumped tank as dry as I could, removed and drained carburetors (only one had the sticky fuel in it) and added fresh fuel.

 

Until then I did not understand how quick stale stick fuel could stick a valve stem!😵

 

Above suggestions on how to proceed are spot on.👍

[Jamison39]

On 5/2/2019 at 8:43 PM, JohnD1956 said:

You need to remove the rocker shafts to replace the push rods anyway, so start there.   When they are off you should be able to check that none of them are stuck and you should see a film of oil.  The oil to the rockers comes through the front rocker shaft base.  It is low pressure oil supply according to the manual.

Then flows through the rocker shaft where it feeds into each rocker arm.  The oil supply in the rocker arm drops oil onto the valve stem as well as the rocker arm bearing surface. but these two passages are separately drilled in the rocker arm.

 

With the rocker shafts removed you should see the three valves that are involved.  If they are dry then you have a passage blocked in the rocker assembly.  If they are stuck their springs will be compressed.  Put some light oil, or penetrating oil on the valve stem and I'd follow what Bloo said, cotton rope through the spark plug hole and then rotate the piston to the top of the cylinder manually to try and  push them back up. 

 

You may have to disassemble the rocker shafts to clean them out if this is the case.  Be sure to put it back together in the exact same order it is taken apart, noting the orientation of the shaft to the rockers themselves. 

So we went ahead and removed the rocker shafts, cleaned evertything up, got the "stuck" valves moving, and all valves very well lubed.  We have one stopping point right now and that is finding the right gasket.  We cant seem to find anywhere that sells the gasket for the "pan" under the intake manifold.  It is a cork gasket, and it goes around the Rocker pan that is directly underneath the intake manifold that holds the oil in the valley.  Does anywhere have a part number, or know where we can order just that gasket?  

 

Thanks in advance.

[JohnD1956]

In a worst case scenario you could always buy suitable gasket material and cut one out.  But before you reinstall that valley pan, make sure to invest some time cleaning out the breather that the road draft tube attaches to.  You could follow Willies program on his website ( preferred) .  Or at a minimum you could invest in a couple of cans of brake cleaner and spray it into the vent openings.  

[avgwarhawk]

3 hours ago, Jamison39 said:

So we went ahead and removed the rocker shafts, cleaned evertything up, got the "stuck" valves moving, and all valves very well lubed.  We have one stopping point right now and that is finding the right gasket.  We cant seem to find anywhere that sells the gasket for the "pan" under the intake manifold.  It is a cork gasket, and it goes around the Rocker pan that is directly underneath the intake manifold that holds the oil in the valley.  Does anywhere have a part number, or know where we can order just that gasket?  

 

Thanks in advance.

http://www.fusickautomotiveproducts.com/prodinfo.asp?number=21006E

[Pete Phillips]

I had the exact same thing happen to me once on a '56 Buick: Push rods got bent due to old gas gumming them up. Drain the old fuel, pour Marvel Mystery oil over all of the valve stems and put some in the gas tank and some in the oil filler tube. It is your best friend on an engine that has been sitting for a long time.

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

Leonard, TX.

[1956century]

Indeed a familiar sight.