Thread: 20 year old rebuild

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I have a 20 year old rebuilt 327. Was wondering what would the procedures to starting without a total tear down. In the last 20 yes
I've added a little marvel mystery oil into the cylinders and turned it over. Thanks for any help

Hmmm, without a total teardown? Well, I wouldn't attempt to start any 20 year old rebuilt motor without pulling the cam and lifters to massage an extreme pressure lubricant into them with my fingers and thumbs in much the same manner that you would rub a charlie horse in your leg. Any lube that was applied to them at rebuild has long since turned to cardboard and the cam and lifters will have little chance of surviving break-in without a dose of Extreme Pressure lubricant such as Isky RL-1 Molybdenum Disulphide....
Isky RevLube RL-1 - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing

Use solvent and then soap and water to clean the lifter crowns and the cam lobes, then massage the MD into them. MD actually bonds with the cam material to prevent scuffing on start-up. Avoid getting water inside the lifter.

Before firing the motor, add one bottle of Isky ZDDP to the oil, then add one bottle with each oil change after that. Extreme Pressure lubes have been removed from off-the-shelf motor oils and the only way to make a flat tappet cam live is to add ZDDP to off-the-shelf oil or use an oil that is dedicated to protecting flat tappet cams and has phosphorus and zinc in it, such as Brad Penn Racing Oil.....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/1618198...chn=ps&lpid=82

Use only STOCK, LOW-PRESSURE GM valve springs for break-in. If you're going to use hot rod springs, remove them from the heads, exchange them for stock springs, break-in the cam and then replace the stock springs with your hot rod springs.

Pre-lube the motor by inserting this Proform tool into the distributor's hole and turning the oil pump with your 3/8" drill motor. It will take only a few seconds for the oil galley to become pressurized and the drill motor to rev down and begin laboring. Don't run the drill motor past that point or you'll burn it up. All you want to do is fill the galley with oil. The mechanism at the bottom of the tool is to complete the oil galley under the distributor hole (like the distributor housing does) so that you will get oil to both banks of the motor.
Proform Oil Pump Primers 66896 - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing

There is lots more to making a flat tappet cam live, so you will want to read through this tutorial that I wrote for the Crankshaft Coalition.....
http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/w...ips_and_tricks

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I'm not contradicting anything said in response so far, but how many times have we seen engines that have been sitting idle, outdoors in the weather or barn finds sitting in unheated barns/garages for 30, 40, 50 years or more and brought to life with nothing more than some Marvel Mystery Oil in the plug holes, see if they're free to turn with a breaker bar, and if so change the fluids and crank 'em up to see if they still run. I enjoy the Chasing Classic Cars show on Velocity, and we've seen too many to count where the old curmudgeon Roger has done just that, and they're driving them shortly after.

I'd be tempted to fill it with Brad Penn's oil, spin the oil pump to prove pressure (I'd use a 1/2" drill minimum), rotate the engine a few turns with a breaker bar while at pressure if there's another set of hands available, and then bring it to TDC compression #1, stab the distributor, throw some plugs in it and crank it and see how it does. Just me, but I think I'd take the risk and crank it up.

I agree with you Roger, with an exception; if the motor had been running an was at least broke in.
If the motor was new (never ran), I would do as tech said at minimum, I might even pull the heads and check the valve seats as well.

I too have enjoyed Roger the kurmudgeon breathe life into a motor,"it should sound bad and smell worse" but how many shows have followed up on the car 20K miles later? None.

Originally Posted by DennyW

ps: I don't think he's coming back. Have no clue...

Steveleb posted on the 327 ID thread today, and logged off around 12:20pm .... He's been back, but chose not the respond here, for some reason.

I second the chance Roger said, the news papers and ebay are filled with 20 year old motors in cars that soak the cylinders in diesel or marvel mystery to break it loose then change the oil & filter and plug wires, fire it up and sell'er in a "classic car auction" where she is drove for years. Now in the best situations and if the thing was a rare or expensive build of a motor I would defiently follow Techs advice, but sbc, heck we dumped gas in a intake ( with no carb when we where kids after it had set 20 years no prelube either, heck I don't remember even checking the oil)) and knocked out 6 k in rpms in less than 10 seconds (we where running away knowing it was going to blow) after that a carb was added and it ran very well at a enduro race at max rpms for a few hours!

If the engine was stored in a plastic bag and wrapped up and been sitting in an area that gets cool then hot a lot, I'd at least pull the pan and maybe intake to make sure it isn't rusty inside. I learned the lesson the hard way on wrapping an engine in plastic and putting it in my cold storage device. Whoops.

A little more info on the engine. It's been in my garage. Sparkplug
Holes have been plugged with plastic plugs exhaust and intake ports
Have been stuffed with paper towels soaked in oil. It hasn't been turned over in a year since I put the engine in the car. Filled it up with brad Penn oil and primed the oil pump go the pressure up to 60. Oil is not coming out all push rods. I really don't want to take it out,but
I don't want to ruin a number correct engine.

If you've got a numbers matching engine, rebuilt 20 years back then I'd say follow Tech's advice to the letter, and be sure that you have it timed close, ready to run 2000 to 2500 rpm for twenty to thirty minutes on initial start to give the cam a fighting chance to survive.

Originally Posted by steveleb

Oil is not coming out all push rods.

If the driver's side is oiling, but the passenger's side is not, then you need to use the priming tool that I linked in post #2. The bottom part of the tool completes the galleyway to provide oil to the passenger's side just like the bottom part of the distributor housing does.

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