Thread: 20 year old rebuild

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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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