start up after sitting 2 years

[Mark H.]

My '64 has been off the road for the better part of two years while I fiddled with the area between the dash and firewall. Hoping to fire her up for the first time since September 2004 this weekend. Thanks to everyone who responded to my questions as I went along. It was a big help.

Here is my curretn question. The engine was rebuilt in '03 and fully broken in before I started the current project. I changed the oil and filter last weekend. Any need to yank the distributor and prime the lubrication system?

[Mike McKown]

Re: start up after sitting 2 years

If you topped off the filter when you changed oil, I fire it up and drive off.

[Terry F.]

Re: start up after sitting 2 years

I would. It would not hurt. I would also squirt some oil in the cylinders and rotate it after you prime and re-drop the distributor.

I am sure it will work if you just start cranking it but if you want to avoid any question you might as well do it right. I am sure oil has probably drained out of most of the top half of the engine.

If you want to take a short cut, pull the valve covers and squirt oil on the rocker arms, pull the plugs and squirt oil in the cylinders, rotate the engine without the plugs in for about 30 seconds, stop and repeat the step with the starter, then put the plugs back in and fire it up. I am not sure about the gas?? It might run ok on it. If it had a fuel stabilizer in it, it might be ok. Hard to tell. If it starts I would run it through and then get some fresh gas. Just my opinion. Terry

[Terry F.]

Re: start up after sitting 2 years

Don't forget to ground the distributor wire or disconnect the coil. Terry

[Mike McKown]

Yeah, and while you're doing all this razz a muh

tazz, turning the engine, squirtin' oil here there and yonder, turning it some more you're not only wiping all the oil off the cam/lifters, you're also inviting a valve cover leak and extra expense of gaskets. You coulda' been 100 miles down the road instead of "taking a shortcut" and doing it "the right way". Fill the filter and drive off. Jeez, the sky ain't fallin'.

[Wayne C.]

Re: start up after sitting 2 years

Two years is not all that long. The gas should be fine. What I'd do is check the oil level is full and oil looks clean (and check other fluid levels), make sure the battery is fully-charged, disconnect the upstream coil wire, and then turn the engine over with the starter until the oil pressure comes/stays up for a minimum of perhaps 20 or 30 seconds; let it sit a minute, then reconnect the coil and start the engine. You can probably then take it somewhere to change the oil, if you don't change it yourself... I realize your post says you've already done that, I'm just saying it for others' benefit.

[Duke W.]

Re: start up after sitting 2 years

Crank it until the oil pressure comes up and then for another 20 or 30 seconds. Where do you get this stuff?

First, the oil and filter should have been changed BEFORE the car was placed in storage, and then run for at least a few minutes or a few miles so the fresh oil circulates entirely through the system and dilutes the old residual oil as much as possible. In dry storage fresh oil doesn't age. It doesn't know the difference between the sump and the bottle.

To bring it back to life use a syringe to fill the fuel bowls. They are full when fuel just begins to dibble out the venturi nozzles. On an EFI car you don't even have to worry about this because the fuel system is essentially sealed, and there are no fuel bowls to run dry.

A fully charged battery is axiomatic.

Then just do a normal cold start- floor the throttle for a pump shot and to set the choke, wait about 30 seconds in mild weather (to let the pump shot evaporate), then turn the key and - shazaam!!! The oil pressure should come up within about 2-3 seconds.

I do this all the time to cars than have been stored (with PROPER storage preparation) for 6 to 12 months.

Fresh fuel is good for at least a year, but on a vented system a lot of the light components will evaporate, which means cold running may be iffy because the fuel's vapor pressure is much lower. After two years it might be a good idea to drain the old fuel, install fresh fuel, then add the old fuel incrementatlly with new fuel or poor it into some other cars - no more than a 50 percent mix with fresh fuel.

Duke

[Duke W.]

Re: start up after sitting 2 years PS

No matter how much oil pressure is showing on the gage, you don't have hydrodynamic pressure in the bearings at cranking speed, so cranking the engine forever has the potential to do more harm than good. At cranking speed you only have boundary lubrication, which means metal to metal contact. (That's were the high dose of ZDDP in HD diesel engine oil can do some real good!)

You want to get the RPM over at least 200-300 as quickly as possible, which will allow the pump to rapidly pressurize the system, and at over this speed the bearings generate enough hydrodynamic pressure to separate the journals from the bearings with a film of oil at least 10-20 microns thick.

It's hydrodynamic pressure that makes journal bearings work, and at high speed the hydrodynamic pressure generated in the bearings is several thousand psi, which is what it takes to keep the journals from touching the bearings with several thousand pounds of applied load.

That 20 micron thick film of oil that "floats" the journal off the bearing under full hydrodynamic lubrication conditions (like aquaplanning on a wet road with bald tires) is the only thing keeping the two from seizing almost instantly at high speed and load, but with a properly designed oil system that thin film of oil is virtually guaranteed.

Duke

[Mark H.]

Re: start up after sitting 2 years PS

I assume the problems with just cranking the engine are avoided if the distributor is pulled and the system is primed with a drill and an oil pump tool? I would set the engine at TDC #1, then prime eveyr 180 degrees for 720 degrees of rotation. Other than lubing the bearings (I hope), this also would let me check for leaks in the oil pressure gauge line without creating a geyzer.

[Duke W.]

Re: start up after sitting 2 years PS

Priming is only desireable or necessary on a fresh engine the first time it is started because the oil galleries, lifters, filter etc. are dry, and they have to be filled before pressure can build, which requires that the oil pump move at least one quart of oil.

Even an engine that has been sitting two years has a full oil filter. There is some drainback from the galleries, but it's not like a fresh engine that is essentially dry. so very little oil has to be move before pressure builds. To get a feel for this check the time it takes to build oil pressure after a normal start versus the first start with a new oil filter that was not prefilled.

I think everyone understands that if you are doing a cam breakin on a fresh engine you want to get the engine started and up to 2000 revs as quickly as possible with minimum cranking. The same basically applies everytime you start the engine. The faster it starts and builds revs above cranking speed, the shorter the time before the bearings and various sliding surfaces see full hydrodynamic lubrication.

Duke

[Mark H.]

Re: start up after sitting 2 years PS

Got it, thanks. I did remember to fill the filter when I changed the oil, so I should be good to go. Thanks very much. Mark