I had a very pleasant surprise today. After removing the valve covers to inspect the timing chain area, I had already begun to start stripping the engine down for removal (I found a decent replacement engine in Missouri). For some unknown reason, I thought I would try cranking the engine once more to see if there was any change and quite glad I did! The plugs have been out for over a week, and I have filled the cylinders with a combination of PB blaster and marvel mystery oil on the possibility of the pistons seized in the cylinders. As soon as I hit the key, I had 8 beautiful oil geysers shooting up all over the engine compartment and over the fenders! The engine all of a sudden was spinning over like normal. I remembered that late yesterday evening I had found what seemed like a loose ground wire at the back of the left bank head in a most difficult position to get to. I could not tell at the time that I had done anything to tighten it and thought no more about it until this evening when the engine began spinning over. Could that have been my problem? A loose or less than adequate ground? I still don't understand the issue with it not turning manually with the breaker bar. After the engine began spinning over normally, the first thing I did was grab the breaker bar to turn it manually which it did with little effort at all. My excitement was tempered a little bit by a tapping noise that seems to be coming from the upper half, but I could not pinpoint it with my stethoscope. It does not cause a misfire or anything as the engine pulls smooth and hard. It is consistent with the rpms and seems a bit louder on initial startup. May pull the VC's back off and look a little closer at the timing chain components. Since I just purchased this car, today was the first time I had heard it run or driven it. I'm sure there is other work to be done since the car had sit for an undetermined amount of time. At any rate, I'll now have an extra engine in the event it develops into something more serious. Thanks for everyone's thoughts and ideas.

 

Glad you solved most of the problem. Good luck with the project.