Pharaohabq Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 The wind howls like wolves outside my door, and the cold tonight soaks into my bones as it has so many nights before. But tonight, here I stand gazing upon her lifeless body. She's waited years for me to find her. I admire the beauty that's still quite apparent after so many years of neglect having been laid to rest in a field decades earlier. They had tried to save her, worked hard to preserve her heart and smoothed her skin as she laid motionless. They then they left her, seldom to visit. We'd pulled her from that dusty grave in that field, dragging her body miles in the dead of the night to my workshop. It's difficult to understand why someone would let her rot, though there is a point when you recognize that she's beyond their ability to try any harder and the pain of knowing you cannot see her live is greater than your need to see her beauty. That is not me, I still see her beauty and I know she will move again, she will breathe and life will return; I will restore her youth. Be it brute strength, chemical, or lightning, She will live, I must only find the method... So here's the deal, I dragged a 70' 240Z from a field some time back where she was a project that won the fight, and her owner could not handle the restoration. He had last worked on her 15 years before. Her last date of registration reads 1983, so it's been more that 30 years since she's run. In his restoration, he'd completely rebuilt the engine, and dropped it back in place along with the 4 speed. so it's all stock, but I don't think the engine was ever started as the fuel lines have been still disconnected. They then sanded the body down from it's blue to it's copper to it's original silver, then primered 90% of the outside in grey primer. They took all the lights and trim off and put it in boxes inside, only the headlights, and tail lights remain installed. That's where they either ran out of time, or ran out of money. I looked and it's got clear amber oil, though I would never run that, I did turn the engine with a wrench to make sure it wasn't locked up. She turned nicely, so mechanically I believe the engine is in good shape... This is where the "method" comes in. When you have an Engine that has sat for YEARS (at least 15 as I could tell), What is the SAFEST method for attempting to start it. Of course I can get fuel and spark together, and I will change the oil, but I want to know what is recommended to do prior to trying to breathe life into her again. If I have to rebuild, I will, but as I said it looks great, just dusty. In NM it's dry, 15% humidity at the MOST. so I'm not really worried about a lot of rust internally in the engine mainly I'm worried about old oil varnish or gummed up oil passageways. I can crank her over I'm sure, at least enough to get compression numbers, BUT I've heard horror stories of people trying to start old engines and blowing rods or locking up cylinders so I'm asking for advice on doing it right Though the primer had mostly worn away on her body, and I am going to just replace the hood and left fender due to a pair of dents where it looks like something fell. I'll have to re-sand and pull a lot of the rust out of the metal along with some other bodywork, I'm not too scared of. Mostly I'd like to avoid doing something stupid and messing up the engine if indeed it was rebuilt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluDestiny Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Put some marvel mystery oil in the cylinders and attempt to rotate with a breaker bar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Put some marvel mystery oil in the cylinders and attempt to rotate with a breaker bar Sounds like he did that, and it's smooth. I'm not sure why the oil would not still be good if it never ran after the rebuild. I'd keep it unless there is evidence that water got into the engine. Just grease the cam lobes, make sure the oil pump is primed, and fire it up once you have ensured you have a clean fuel system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue72 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Yes, clean fuel system. That was the biggest headache on my 510. I took the carb off and removed an inch of varnish out of the float chamber alone, then cleaned all the other passages and put some new gaskets on. Mine had sat for 20+ years without running and no one had drained the gas out before abandoning it. I actually had to spend an entire afternoon with carb cleaner, compressed air and a wire coat hanger just to open up the fuel hardline from the gas tank to the engine bay. The engine had seized solid (breaker bar + cheater bar + jumping up and down on cheater bar solid), but some ATF in the cylinders + time got it rotating smoothly again. The only other thing I did was new spark plugs and wires. I didn't even change the oil and it started right up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 I didn't use Mystery oil, but I did spray in WD-40 and let that sit a few weeks before I tried turning the engine with a wrench. I am going to drop the tank and blow out the lines before trying to start anything. That was in the plan all along, since I know what bad gas can do. I don't think the lines shoudl be in bad shape since they've been disconnected for so long, but I won't know if they're clogged until I try to blow them out. But I'll replace the filter and make sure it's as clean as possible before trying to start it. Some of the other classic car forums were saying to put Diesel fuel in through the oil fill and crank it over a bit to get it circulated w/o any spark, then let it sit. This is supposed to soften up any gummed up oil in the bearings etc. This seems to make sense. I'd of course drain and replace the oil & filter with new before trying to start the engine. I like the swabbing the cams with grease idea, and I might just do that too. Has anyone heard of this using Diesel fuel idea before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 In my experience diesel fuel is not a particularly good solvent, and it has poor lubricating properties as well. Unless the oil is obviously not in good condition, I wouldn't bother putting anything else in the crankcase. If you thought there was the potential for oil sludge in the crankcase, biodiesel would be an excellent solvent, far better than diesel, but you do not want any left in it when you fire up the engine. Biodiesel lubricity is far better than diesel, but it has very poor film strength and dilutes motor oil so you would not want to leave any significant amount behind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 Thanks SleeperZ Good to know. I don't care about the oil in the engine already, it's really really old, and though it looks clear it may not be, it may be just well settled. That oil is already contaminated by the WD40 I'd sprayed anyway. I might find some BioDiesel and try that for a week or so to make sure things are loosened up before I change the oil. It's the dilution and film removal I'm looking for to help clean out the old oil from the passageways. A better solvent is good. Either way, I'm going to try to get as much as possible out of the case before I refill anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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