To be clearer, I recently brought home an old car with an old engine (sbf) that was a fresh rebuild 30 years ago. I'm wondering what precautions I should take with trying to start the motor. I don't want to pull the heads or get that deep into the engine even though that might be the smartest thing to do.
I'm guessing I should pull the plugs and put a bit of oil into the hole, wait a bit, then turn the engine with the crank bolt.
Next question would be what kind of gas (additive?) and oil (old engines need a certain kind now, correct?) after it tries to start.
No "numbers matching" worries so worst-case, I will just replace it with a newer motor.
I'd be tempted to pre-lube it with a oil pump shaft and a drill.
Ford Pre-lube Shaft
Dump some fresh oil over the cam, rockers, eyc. Something high zinc. Also, prime the oiling system. Pull the distributor, put the tool in, spin with drill.
fresh oil, new filter, prime it....and start it.
expect leaks
I'm going to replace the oil and filter, and pour some of the new high-zinc oil over the rockers and spin the pump before I turn it with the starter.
Next question is if I need to pour some gas into the vent tube to fill the fuel bowls.
...regarding leaks, I'm going to have an extinguisher handy for those worst-case possibilities.
thanks guys.
Mechanical or electric fuel pump?
Dusterbd13 said:
Mechanical or electric fuel pump?
Mechanical.
This is so old it has a generator -another thing to address down the road if the motor is ok.
Then yes, AFTER oil pressure is built, you can fill float bowls. However, a good mechanical pump should fill them quickly when you spin the key over.
If there was gasoline in the fuel bowls when it was laid up its probably a varnish filled mess in there now. You probably want to check that. You definitely want to drain any gasoline in the system and start with fresh.
And I agree with all the advice on pre-circulation of fresh oil with a fresh filter.
I have rebuilt engines and I take out the spark plugs and spin the engine with the starter to get oil pressure showing on the gauge. With no spark plugs it will crank pretty fast.
This would be a good time to notice if the mechanical fuel pump is pumping and if the float valve in the carburetor is closing when the bowl is full or if its over flowing into the engine.
stan said:
This is so old it has a generator -another thing to address down the road if the motor is ok.
Must be 1964 or older? As long as the car doesn't have any added accessories that require a lot of current (i.e. a big stereo, air conditioning, etc.) there's nothing inherently bad about a generator - they'll work just fine, changing over to an alternator is just more time and effort and expense.
I agree on checking the carburetor for varnish, although if it was run 30 years ago the gas back then wasn't as prone to gumming up things as it is today.
